Bulgaria To Test 1st Upgraded MiG-29 Fighter

[tigershark]

For Bulgaria and I think others as well having upgrades done to there MiG-29 Fighters is the way to go.   Most of these country's air force have been flying these aircraft for years and have: tooling equipment, spare parts chain, some training maintenance personnel, pilots, it seems to be less costly operation.   Bring a batch of aircraft up to NATO standards instead of buying brand new western fighters at $75 to 95 million per and save the money.   Basically staying with what you know and just improving on it seems a better route instead of spending so much money.   Unless you have a threat currently nearby that flying advance fighters I don't see the reason for spending so much money.    A small un-named country a little while ago bought I think 13 or 16 Typhoons most likely could have bough 20 upgraded Fulcrums + spare and maybe a few weapons for the same money.    Why a country not being threaten needs to buys probable the worlds second best and second most expensive fighter in the world where used Fulcrums would have done the job.   I think Bulgaria doing it right.   Thought?

Link
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=87893

[Webmaster]

At a NATO sortie rate, they still need to be replaced within 10 years. The upgrade is more of an interim solution until Bulgaria is finally able to afford Gripens, F-16s or F/A-18s. Which makes sense and is probably a better solution than procuring Western second-hand aircraft as interim, however it's not like you're saving money. In the near future they still need to buy new aircraft, retool/retrain/requip/rebuild the squadrons, plus with your allies operating more advanced and classified systems by then, you're still lagging and still can't get the experience and knowledge from the strongest allies. Finally, whether you spend more today or in the future, you're eating up a considerable piece of the budget. I hope this solution has freed up funds (and I think it has) for the Mil helicopter upgrades and C-27J purchase, like I said it's not saving money. With the next round, they will have a problem again since the helicopters need replacement as well as the MiGs then.

Also I think you are referring to Austria, which didn't have any experience with Russian manufacturers or aircraft. Choosing the MiG in that case, would have meant all kinds of problems. In the end, having 15 Typhoons at a 90% availability rate is better than 20 Fulcrums at a 50% availability rate. Whether they need such capable air defense fighters is another question/subject.

[tigershark]

I assumed they used Russian gear I can't believe I made that mistake and didn't look it up.  Thanks webmaster

Upgrading for now and for the future is a complex issue and a very costly one at that.   I try to keep it simple like:
1. What are your current needs
2. What are your future needs
3. What do you enemies have or might have in the future

Example answers could just be.>
1. Just be basic air patrol
2. It might be or mean overseas NATO deployment?
3. No current or nearby enemies.

There is no getting around it fast movers and helicopter are expensive period upfront cost and daily maintenance, not to mention operational cost.     I don't know how certain countries can even do it.

[Webmaster]

Even if it was that simple, and providing you can actually answer those questions reasonably well, the conclusion from that answer never leads to a 100% perfect solution. You are either overspending or taking more risks than you should because you never know what the future actually brings. Simplifying the issue doesn't get you anywhere.

E.g. the Netherlands 1995
1. air defence, combat air patrol, close air support, humanitarian help, all within UN framework
2. NATO tasks including all of the above.
3. No current or nearby enemies, but the situation in the Balkans faces us with MiG-29, SA-2/3/6/7, ZSU-23, any humanitarian missions will be threathened by RPG/MANPADS.

Now, how would I conclude from this that I need AH-64Ds and CH-47 Chinooks in the first place. Okay, they had a vision for it and saw the future, but who would have guessed the Netherlands would be fighting in Afghanistan 10 years later...? Luckily the AF bought the right equipment (or at least to some extent), but the army didn't...

But you are right, asking simple questions does provide some framework to look at a country's defence needs. But future needs depend on vision and development in both technology/economy as politics/demographics, same for future enemies. Threat analysis combined with risk management are needed to competently answer just those 3 seemingly simple questions.

Anyway, enough about that pls, there's too much to it. Let's get back on topic: MiG-29 upgrade - Bulgaria finally does it

Any info on the upgrade? I suppose it is similar to the Polish/Slovakian MiG-29 upgrade: approved overhaul plus replacement of some Russian systems with NATO-compatible, as far as I know, only radios and IFF systems. Maybe GPS as well? Not much else, right...? The overhaul is just prolonging their lifes and bringing the non-airworthy examples back to the air. It's a very basic upgrade, nothing near the extend of SMT or Western MLU programs.  Also, I am not sure, but I think at the moment there's no firm contract in place to upgrade all remaining MiG-29s, I don't remember but it was something like less than 10, and an option for the remainder... as previous Bulgarian / RSK MiG upgrade deals were unsuccessful, they've been a bit careful.

Serbia is also overhauling its remaining Fulcrums btw, all five of them if I'm not mistaken.

[tigershark]

As far as the upgrade goes I found nothing else on this.  I even know a person from that region who looked locally in press and other media and saw nothing else either.    I agree with you I think its a very basic upgrade for lack of funding but RSK MiG in general are difficult to figure out.   They seem to just fall short in certain areas for example the Algeria order, the length of time to produce India K models, the gap in time in getting the SMT into market, the failure to push the M model or even finished the Mig-35.  They seem to react to the market but never lead it if that makes sense.  Its almost like they want to be second best in there own country for exports as well.   RSK MIG has by far the worse marketing by any aircraft producing company in the world hands down.   Sometimes I feel that RSK MIG is like the F-20 of Russia, the Russian Air Force just doesn't want and for that it gets treated as B level troops.