Slovakia has handed over the remaining 9 out of 13 Soviet-era MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine. This was announced today by the Ministry of Defence of Slovakia. According to government officials, for security reasons, as part of a “complex logistical operation”, the aircraft were transported by land, while the first four aircraft were transported to Ukraine from Slovakia by our pilots in late March.
On 17 March, Slovakia approved the transfer of its entire fleet of Soviet-era MiG-29 aircraft to Ukraine. This step made it the second NATO member state to respond to the Ukrainian government’s request for military aircraft to protect against Russian aggression.
Slovakia mothballed its Soviet fighter jets last summer, a decision made due to a lack of spare parts and maintenance specialists. Neighbouring Poland and the Czech Republic, both NATO members, have joined in to monitor Slovakia’s airspace. At the same time, the country will not receive a replacement for the MiG-29s it has been given this year. Its government had previously signed an agreement to buy 14 US F-16 Block 70/72 fighters, but the delivery was postponed for two years, and now the first aircraft are not expected to arrive until early 2024.
The United States offered Slovakia 12 new military helicopters as compensation for the fighter jets transferred to Ukraine. According to the proposal, Slovakia will pay $340 million for the Bell AH-1Z strike aircraft as part of a deal worth about $1 billion. The remaining $660 million would be covered by US military funding.
At the same time, the German government has recently approved Poland’s application to transfer MiG-29 fighters from the GDR’s stockpile to Ukraine. This was reported by SPIEGEL. Poland announced its intention to transfer Soviet-made MiG-29 fighters from the former GDR stocks to Ukraine last month, but so far no aircraft from this batch have been delivered. Germany sold 23 MiG-29s to Poland, which the Bundeswehr took over from the GDR’s National People’s Army (NPA), in 2002, and contracts for the sale of military equipment from Germany stipulate that the German government must give its consent to a possible further transfer. This consent was finally obtained.
Last week, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that his country had already delivered eight MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine. Four of them were delivered to Kyiv “in recent months”, while four more MiG-29s were delivered “recently”. In addition, six more aircraft are being prepared for delivery.
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