Poland Ready to Service Bulgarian MiG-29 Fighters, Defence Minister Siemoniak Says
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Polish Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak (R) and Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev (L) during a welcome ceremony in Warsaw, Poland, 16 February 2015. Photo EPA/BGNES
Poland is ready to provide servicing for Bulgaria’s Russian-made MiG-29 fighter aircraft, Polish Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak has said.
"The Bulgarians would like to make repairs of their MIG-29 planes in Polish works. We have talked about it and we are ready for this," Polish news agency PAP quoted Siemoniak as saying following talks with his Bulgarian counterpart Nikolay Nenchev in Warsaw on Monday.
Bulgaria might opt to send its old MiG-29s to Poland for refurbishment, a defence industry news website reported last month.
“Sending the old fighters off to Russia for refurbishment is awkward at a time when NATO is attempting to roust the impression of additional asset rotations through Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria,” according to Defense Industry Daily.
Poland successfully installed new avionics, mission computers, a NATO-compatible databus and hardened GPS to its own MiG 29s at its military aviation works in Bydgoszcz in 2011.
Bulgaria is also interested in Poland’s experience in armed forces reform, military training and exercises and in equipment, Siemoniak said
"Our determination to strengthen cooperation results mainly from the Ukrainian-Russian crisis and implementation of decisions made at the NATO summit” held in Wales in September last year, he said.
Siemoniak and Nenchev also discussed the aspirations of Montenegro and Macedonia to join NATO, PAP said.
Nenchev will visit Latvia’s capital Riga on February 18 and 19 to take part in an informal meeting of defence ministers of the EU member states.
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