site.btaMiG-29 Fighter Jet with Polish Engines Ready for Flight Operations

“A MiG-29 fighter jet with engines from Poland is ready for flight operations,” the Bulgarian Air Force said on its official Facebook page on Wednesday.

“I expect there to be a turnover of parts and another MiG-29 fighter to enter service with the two engines that our country received from Poland,” said in mid-May caretaker Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov during Question time in Parliament.

Bulgaria received one MiG-29 aircraft engine from Poland in late March and another in mid-May. Back in January Stoyanov announced that two MiG-29 engines would arrive from Poland.

“The MiG-29 fighters can fly for a long time, depending on whether we maintain them,” Brigadier General Nikolai Rusev, commander of Graf Ignatievo Air Base, said in an interview with BTA in February. "If we have the ability to maintain them - the fighters will fly. If it turns out that we cannot supply the necessary spare parts, which has been the case recently, they will stop soon. It is very important whether we will be able to deliver spare parts. The jets have resources, but the events over the past year have shown that maintenance will become increasingly difficult," he explained and added that MiG-29s can continue to be used until 2029-2030 if spare parts are available for them.