- The offer was made a day after Radev spoke with Joe Biden in Poland
- The Americans rejected the offer
- There was a danger that Bulgaria would be left without aviation
In a last-ditch effort to find something to keep the Bulgarian Air Force flying until the first of the 16 F-16 Block70 fighters on order arrive in 2025, the caretaker government appointed by President Rumen Radev has tried to get rid of old Russian MiG-29s. The idea is against them if Bulgaria gets planes from the USA.
Confirmation of such a triangular deal, which has been rumored unofficially by the military for months but denied by Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov, came from Pentagon documents on the war in Ukraine that were leaked in chats.
Bulgaria has offered the US to give its MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, CNN reported, citing documents leaked from the Pentagon.
The offer was made on February 23, the documents show. A day earlier – on February 22, President Rumen Radev was in the Polish capital Warsaw for a meeting of the countries of the eastern flank of NATO.
US President Joe Biden was also present at the forum, having previously visited the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Before leaving for Poland, Radev had an analysis of the state of the army, made by the head of defense, Admiral Emil Eftimov.
“It is unacceptable in this extremely complex security environment that a significant number of political parties view our armed forces not as a guarantor of the territorial integrity and security of the country, but
as a donor to the armed forces of Ukraine
– this is the only thing they are interested in when talking about the Bulgarian army – how it should immediately give its weapons. The mantra that is being planted, that by giving the old Russian weaponry, the problems with modernization will be solved immediately, is profoundly untenable”, Radev stated at the time, before leaving for the meeting with Biden in Poland.
According to the head of state at that time already
“triangular trade window closed”
A day later, however, the Ministry of Defense made a proposal to the Americans to provide the Bulgarian MiG-29s to Ukraine. Although, since he has been acting defense minister, Dimitar Stoyanov has repeatedly denied that he would give weapons such as MiG-29s and S-300 missiles to Kiev.
The offer for the fighter jets, sent to the Pentagon, is actually a last attempt for the Air Force to be able to fly, sources from the Ministry of War commented to “24 Hours”. Bulgaria wanted to receive second-hand F-16s from the USA in exchange for the planes given to Ukraine under the so-called triangular deal.
Late Monday afternoon, this was confirmed in a special written statement from the Ministry of Defense.
The Ministry of Defense has not held talks on the free provision of Bulgarian MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine. Such a decision would lead to a deficit of capabilities, which is contrary to the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Law on Defense and Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria.
In implementation of the decision of the National Assembly from the end of 2022, the Ministry of Defense has successively held talks on the possibilities of implementing the so-called triangular deals, to replace some of the available armaments with compatible ones from allied countries, without allowing loss of capabilities,” the defense ministry statement said.
The Americans, however, remained skeptical of the Bulgarian proposal, it is clear from the leaked documents cited by CNN. The reason was that if it handed over its MiG-29s to Ukraine, the Bulgarian Air Force would not have aircraft on combat duty for at least a year, the report makes clear. It does not mention a triangular deal.
Even if MiG-29s were replaced with second-hand American F-16s, however, there would be a period of about a year in which the Bulgarian pilots would not have the full capabilities to be on combat duty.
For this reason, for months Radev and Stoyanov have been trying to secure the so-called replacement platform –
second-hand fighters to fly by 2030,
when the Air Force will already fully use the capabilities of the purchased new 16 F-16 fighters.
Offers were requested from the USA, Israel, France and Sweden, but answers came only for the Gripen and Mirage, which were too expensive.
Bulgarian pilots are faced with the real danger of being left without airplanes to protect Bulgaria’s airspace by the end of the year. The reason is that the resource of the MiG-29 aircraft is running out. Bulgaria has 18 such fighters, but
only 5 or 6 are currently airworthy
In order to stay in the air, Dimitar Stoyanov tried to find 6 new engines. After negotiations, only one was delivered from Poland, and the second one agreed turned out to be technically unfit. During tests of this engine in Bulgaria, it turned out that there were chips in the oil.
The last option that Stoyanov is trying is to award an order worth over BGN 19 million for the repair of the MiG-29 engines. The only realistic possibility is that the tender will be won by a Bulgarian plant, which will, however, have to bring in experts from Ukraine or Poland to try to carry out the repairs.
