MiG-29AS ‘0921’ at Kecskeméti Nemzetközi Repülőnap 2010, flown by Lt. Col Marian ‘Buker’ Bukovsky, 7 August 2010. By Wikimedia user KGyST.
Slovakia is ready to start talks on delivering its MiG-29s to Ukraine once Kiev has officially asked for the fighter jets, Prime Minister Eduard Heger said on February 10.
The Eastern European country has been providing military support to Kiev forces since the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine last year. Last April, the country sent its only S-300PMU long-range air-defense system to Kiev.
“The Ukrainian president asked me to deliver the MIGs. Now, because this official request has come, the process of negotiations can be started,” Heger said.
According to the PM, negotiations will be both internal and also with the European Commission, because Slovakia could have the delivery reimbursed.
The Slovak Air Force operates nine MiG-29AS fighter jets and a single MiG-29UBS trainer which it inherited from the Czechoslovak Air Force. The fighter jets were upgraded by Russia’s RAC MiG and Western firms.
The MiG-29s were equipped with navigation and communications systems from Rockwell Collins, an identification friend or foe system from BAE Systems, new glass cockpit features multi-function LC displays and digital processors and also fitted to be integrated with Western equipment in the future. However, the armaments of the fighter jets remain unchanged.
Slovakia’s defense minister Jaroslav Nad said the country no longer needed the jets and it could either sell them somewhere else, or give them to Ukraine where the planes could help. The minister noted that no decision had been taken yet.
The country ordered 14 F-16V fighter jets from the United States in 2018 to replace its MiG-29s. The first planes are expected to arrive some time in 2024.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said earlier this week that he had heard from several European Union leaders at a summit that they were ready to provide Kiev with fighter jets. The move will likely keep the Ukrainian Air Force operational and provoke Russia. However, it will not change much on the battlefield.
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