site.btaContract for Repair of Bulgarian MiGs in Poland Will Be Signed in Coming Days

Contract for Repair of Bulgarian MiGs in Poland Will Be Signed in Coming Days

Sofia, October 2 (BTA) - A contract for repair of Bulgarian
MiG-29 fighters in Poland will be signed in the coming days. "We
 will have two repaired engines before the end of this year and
six repaired fighter aircraft before the end of April 2016,
which is absolutely enough when added to what we have at the
moment," Bulgarian Defence Minister Nickolay Nenchev told
reporters in Parliament after meeting with the deputies of the
Reformist Bloc.

He added that with the available resources and without engine
repairs Bulgaria will only be able to protect its air space
until mid-2016.

He also said that the offer the Polish company made was 600,000
euro cheaper for each engine and 1.2 million euro cheaper per
plane than what RSK MiG asked. "If we choose to repair 10
fighters, it makes 24 million leva. By signing a contract with
the Polish side, we also will not have to pay 20 per cent VAT,"
he said adding that the Polish side has given quality
assurances.

According to Nenchev, Air Force Commander Gen. Roumen Radev has
been privy to all talks that Bulgaria has had with Poland and
all talks have been attended by an Air Force representative.
"That is why I don't think anything is unclear for Gen. Radev on
 this issue," the Minister said commenting the Air Force
commander's resignation.
Gen. Radev asked to resigned on Thursday over the deplorable
state of the military aviation but shortly after that withdrew
his resignation after a conference with Prime Minister Boyko
Borissov.

In Nenchev's words, Radev has even expressed satisfaction with
what the Ministry leadership is doing. He also said that is was
not the general's proposed resignation that prompted the release
 of an additional 80 million leva for the aircraft. "This amount
 had been agreed long before Gen. Radev met with the Prime
Minister," Nenchev said, taking personally the credit for the
additional funding.

Earlier in the day, MP Grozdan Karadjov (Reformist Bloc) told
the press that a contract has been initialled on working level
for repair of the Bulgarian MiG-29 fighters in Poland on
Thursday by Deputy Defence Minister Dimiter Kyumyurdjiev.
According to him, at its next meeting this coming Wednesday, the
 government will authorize the Defence Minister to undersign the
 contract.

If a deal has been initialled, it means there is no doubt that
the Polish armament factory can do the job, Karadjov commented.

According to the deputy floor leader of the Socialists' group in
 Parliament, Atanas Merdjanov, however, initialling a tentative
contract for the repair of the MiGs in Poland has only political
 meaning and value. "Such a contract has no legal or commercial
value because if the Polish commercial partnership has some kind
 of contractual relations with the Russian producer of MiG-29,
they give [the Polish side] only a partial licence - for repair
of Polish MiG-29. In other words, the Polish side has no
capacity and licence to repair the MiG-29 fighters of other
countries," the Socialist MP said. He warned that if the
government mandates the Defence Minister to sign a final
contract for the MiGs' repair, the Bulgarian side is in for a
serious legal saga.

The Defence Minister, however, believes that there is no reason
to expect "a legal saga" and sanctions.

Last week the Russian side reportedly warned Bulgaria that
Poland is not licensed for the execution of repairs of the
engines of MiG-29 and that if it goes ahead with the Polish
deal, RSK MiG will discontinue the further performance of the
contractual relations for the maintenance and operation of the
aircraft.

Commenting another controversial issue of the past couple of
days - a proposed legislative amendment allowing the Bulgarian
Air Force to protect the national air space jointly with another
 country - the Defence Minister said that this is an option and
not an obligation and nobody has ever thought of giving the
Bulgarian sky away to another country. He was adamant that
Bulgaria is capable of taking care of the security of its air
border.