Two US aircraft will conduct air policing to protect Bulgaria’s airspace from 9th to 16th of September, Bulgaria’s Defence Minister Nikolai Nenchev told reporters after a cabinet meeting on 24th of August.
It is a peacetime mission and is accepted at the initiative of out NATO partners, Nenchev said.
Bulgaria will not pay for the mission. It will be carried out jointly with the Bulgarian Air Force, he said.
Nenchev said that Bulgaria could protect its air space and had the required MiG-29 fighters to do so. He added that in November, the country would receive two further engines for these fighters, bringing the total to six, and there would be three more serviceable MiG-29s. Following a decision of the Council of Ministers, the government allocated 69 million BGN for additional 10 modernised engines, meaning five additional MiG-29s this year.
We did not dismiss the possibility of an agreement with Poland on joint security of air space, but this would be subject to further discussions, the minister added.
He said that the resignation of General Roumen Radev, former Air Force chief, would not affect negotiations on the purchase of new fighter jets.
Nenchev expressed hope that this year, there would be a contract for new aircrafts and that they might arrive in the country at the end of 2018.
Nenchev also said that the Bulgarian government would propose General Tsanko Stoykov, Bulgaria’s military attaché in the United States, to become the new Air Force commander.
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