BRATISLAVA. July 4 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia's MIG aircraft corporation has concluded a framework contract with the Slovak Defense Ministry for flight readiness restoration of the MIG-29 Fulcrum fighters in the Slovak Air Force's inventory, a spokesman for the MIG administration told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The contract was signed here on Wednesday by authorized officials of the ministry and the MIG corporation, the spokesman said. Slovak Defense Minister Jozef Stank and MIG Director General and Constructor General Nikolai Nikitin were present at the signing ceremony.
The Slovak fighters will be repaired at the Leteske Opravovne aircraft repair enterprise in the locality of Trencin under control of Russian specialists, the spokesman said. They have studied the state of the aircraft and proposed a set of measures aimed at extending their service life. In addition to aircraft repairs, MIG offers a program of the MIG-29 modernization and adjustment to NATO standards. Slovakia intends to join NATO in 2002.
MIG has gained a prominent foothold on the Central and Eastern European markets. Earlier it won contracts for restoration and repairs of MIG-29 stocks in Hungary and Bulgaria. Hungary, a NATO member, and Bulgaria, which intends to join NATO, came under serious pressure in relation to the contract, but they decided to keep the reliable and efficient MIG-29 fighters in stock due to purely economical reasons. Experts say that the fighters' service life can be extended for at least 15 to 20 years.
The Russian-Slovak contract provides for restoration of combat readiness of 18 MIG-29 fighters before the end of 2003. The aircraft will be subsequently modernized and adjusted to NATO standards.