Former Defence Minister: Instead of introducing F-16s, investing in drones, MoD is focusing on ageing equipment
Instead of introducing its brand-new F-16s and using its limited resources to invest in anti-drone defence systems, Bulgaria’s Ministry of Defence continues to look at aging equipment, former Defence Minister Todor Tagarev told bTV on July 27.
Tagarev was commenting on confirmation from Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov that Bulgaria had asked Poland about acquiring their decommissioned Soviet-era Mig-29 fighter jets.
Stoyanov confirmed this two days after Polish Deputy Defence Minister Paweł Zalewski announced that a request had been received from a “Nato country” regarding the aircraft, for which Poland has been negotiating with Ukraine for several years.
Although he did not name the country, only Bulgaria fits the description in the interview as a Nato country that continues to use MiG-29s to protect its airspace.
On July 26, Stoyanov said that Bulgaria is interested in buying another squadron of second-hand F-16s and had sent an inquiry to General Alexus Grinkevich, Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
Tagarev told bTV that it was indicative that out of two MiG-29s on duty, only one was scrambled during the most recent emergency situation (the alert about an alleged hijacking of a passenger aircraft over Bulgaria).
His explanation is that most likely there was no second fighter ready. How many of the Bulgarian Air Force MiG-29s are ready to perform missions is classified information.
At the same time, the eight F-16s have long been accepted into Bulgaria and have trained pilots, but there is still no pair of them on duty.
Tagarev called on the Ministry of Defence to explain why, when there are new fighter jets, there is still talk of searching for spare parts to extend the life of the MiG-29 or acquiring other second-hand aircraft.
“Instead of moving towards developing capabilities for new equipment and acquiring other anti-drone defence and missile defence systems, we are relying on the old,” Tagarev said.
He said that when the Ministry of Defence raised the issue of acquiring “second-hand” allied aircraft after the start of the war in Ukraine, the political reaction was against it – with mockery that Bulgaria would not pay for “crates”.
“The Romanians bought a very large part of them and it is with these planes (F-16) that they are now shooting down drones. The rest went to Ukraine – all our allies who had obsolete planes sent them to Ukraine,” said Tagarev, questioning where the Ministry of Defence could buy enough planes for another fighter squadron.
Former Polish Defence Minister Janusz Onyszkiewicz told Ukrinform that restoring the MiGs to full combat readiness would require very large additional costs. That is why Ukraine has expressed reservations.
Kyiv is already using Nato aircraft such as the F-16 and has even had its first case of a Russian Su-35 fighter jet being shot down.
The news about Bulgaria’s interest in the Polish MiGs sparked a critical reaction from the co-chair of Yes Bulgaria – part of opposition coalition Democratic Bulgaria – Ivailo Mirchev .
Mirchev accused the Cabinet of “trying to take away from the under-attack Ukraine planes that it needs every day”.
“While Ukraine is at war with Russia, Radev’s Cabinet is clearly fighting for more Soviet equipment. The old MiG-29 may seem cheap when acquired, but then taxpayers pay dearly for every hour it spends in the air. Bulgaria should not compete with Ukraine for old MiGs, but with its Nato allies in the speed with which it modernises its armed forces,” Mirchev said.
It is also unclear what the cost of acquisition, repair and operation would be.
Bulgaria still uses Soviet aircraft to guard its skies, but repair options are severely limited due to Russia’s actions in Ukraine even before the February 2022 start of the full-scale war, after the illegal annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas.
(Archive photo of Tagarev: Ministry of Defence)
