MiG-29 from old GDR stock: Poland applies for German approval to deliver fighter jet to Ukraine


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MiG-29 from old GDR stock

Poland requests German approval to deliver combat aircraft to Ukraine

Poland has already delivered eight combat aircraft from its own stock to Ukraine. Now others will follow, which requires approval from the federal government. It concerned MiG-29s from old GDR stocks that Germany gave to Poland.

Poland has applied to the federal government for approval to supply Soviet-designed combat aircraft to Ukraine. A similar letter was received in Berlin, as the German news agency learned from government circles. It concerned MiG-29s from old East German stocks, which Germany had given to Poland and Berlin therefore had to agree to their transfer.

The federal government wants to decide on Thursday whether to give Poland its consent to deliver fighter jets to Ukraine. This was stated by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius on the sidelines of a visit to German soldiers in Mali, West Africa.

In March, Poland announced the delivery of Soviet-designed MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine to help the country fight off the Russian offensive. Initially, however, no machines were delivered from ex-GDR stocks, and this is clearly about to change.

In 2002, Germany sold 23 MiG-29 combat aircraft to Poland, which were captured by the Bundeswehr from the People’s National Army of the German Democratic Republic (NVA). The security advisor to Polish President Andrzej Duda Jacek Siwiera said at the end of March that the Polish Air Force still has about a dozen of them today. In contracts for the sale of arms from Germany, it is usually stipulated that the federal government must approve the possible transfer at a later date.

Polish President Duda said last week that his country has already delivered eight MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine. He said after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Warsaw that four planes had been delivered to Kiev “over the past few months”.

Four more MiG-29s were “recently” delivered to the neighboring country attacked by Russia. In addition, six MiG-29s are currently being prepared for delivery, Duda said. Duda said other MiG-29s remained in service with the Polish Armed Forces for the time being. Only if they are successively replaced by modern combat aircraft, which Poland has already ordered in South Korea and the United States, these machines can also be left to Ukraine. In addition to Poland, Slovakia has already delivered four MiG-29s to Kiev.

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