Bulgaria, Poland Sign Agreement on Repair of MiG-29 Fighter Jets

During his two-day official visit to Poland, Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev and his Polish counterpart Tomasz Siemoniak signed in Warsaw on Thursday the agreement on the repair of Bulgaria's MiG-29 fighter jets.

The agreement foresees that Poland will repair six of the engines until the middle of next year, so that by September 2016 Bulgaria will add three fighter jets to its air force.

In the space of twenty days after the signing of the contract, Poland will lend two of its MiG-29 engines for temporary use, so that almost immediately one of the Bulgarian fighter jets will be capable of conducting flights.

Earlier in October, the Bulgarian government entrusted Nenchev with a mandate on signing the intergovernmental agreement.

The cost of repair of the six engines exceeds EUR 6.1 M, but is still lower than the price, which had been offered by the Russian MiG company.

According to Nenchev, the agreement would save Bulgaria BGN 24 M, in addition to 3 % customs duty and 20 % VAT, which the country is not obliged to pay as Poland is a fellow EU member state.

The transportation costs will be met by the Polish side, the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) quotes him as saying.

The duration of the contract is for ten months and provides that four of the engines will be modernised within six months after their delivery, with the remaining two to be repaired within another four months.