HISTORY

Therefore, Poland requested Germany’s approval

for the transaction and German government

promptly approved it. At this time, it is quite

possible that another batch of Polish Migs are

being prepared for the handover.

Slovak Migs

After the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993,

Slovak AF received nine Mig-29A (9.12) singleseaters and one Mig-20UN two-seater. As

a compensation for the trade deficit with Russia,

further 12 single-seaters and two two-seaters

were delivered from Russia to Slovakia. During

2005-2006 Aircraft Repair Facility in Trenčín

performed a partial upgrade of 10 single-seaters

to AS version and two two seaters to UBS

version. They were equipped with the western

avionics, but the armament remained the same.

As of 2006 the service of the Slovak fighter was

contracted to the Russian company RSK MIG.

And that became a hot issue in operating the

Slovak aircraft. The standard maintenance was

provided by Slovak ground personnel, but more

complicated jobs could only be performed by the

Russian civilian technicians. Their long-term

presence at the NATO airbase caused the raised

eyebrows of the Slovakia’s allies. The Russian

service was neither reliable nor financially

feasible. According to the contract at least eight

fighters were supposed to be airworthy at all

times, but this number varied around four to

five aircraft and pilots could not log the required

flight hours. In 2018 the purchase of new F-16C/D

Block 70 was approved and after their arrival

Migs were to be struck of charge.

After the Russian invasion to Ukraine the

situation became unsustainable. Therefore,

Slovakia made agreement with Czech, Polish and

later Hungarian neighbors to protect the Slovak

airspace. On September 9, 2022, after 30 years in

service, Mig-29s were officially grounded. Even

after this deadline some of them performed the

sporadic training flights. Even though the talks

about their transfer to Ukraine were going on for

a whole year this only took place in March 2023.

Officially Ukraine received 10 airplanes from

Slovakia in airworthy (repairable) conditions and

three grounded without engines for a long time as

a source of the spare parts. In reality only eight

aircraft, flying until the official grounding on

September 9, 2022, went to Ukraine. Remaining

five had been struck of charge before this date.

Donated single-seat fighter carried the following

bort numbers: 0619, 0820, 0921, 2123, 3709, 3911,

5113, 6124, 6425, 6627 and 6728. Two two-seaters

were coded 1303 and 5304.

Airframes 5113 and 0820 were not upgraded to AS

version and it is safe to say that they belonged

to three engine-less airframes stored for spare

parts. 5113 was from original Czechoslovak batch.

3709 and 3911 belonged to those as well and even

though they were upgraded to AS standard in

2018 they were beyond their airframe life and in

2019 they were struck of charge. The last of five

decommissioned aircraft was Mig-29UBS twoseater, bort number 1303 which technical life

was exhausted in the beginning of 2022. As of

the end of 2018 the second two-seater marked

5304 reached the end of its airframe resource

but some maintenance was performed on it

and it flew until September 9, 2022. In addition,

the following single-seaters Mig-29AS were

grounded: 0619, 0921, 2123 from the first Russian

batch and 6124, 6425, 6627 and 6728 from the

second one.

Before the airplanes were handed over to

Ukraine the US origin equipment (navigational,

communication aids and friend-foe identification)

had to be removed from the AS and UBS versions.

A week before the hand over the Ukrainian

technicians arrived in Sliač and brought with

them their own devices and parts which they

installed into Migs in place of those of the

western origin. On March 23, 2023, four aircraft

were flown over to Ukraine. They were 2123,

6124 and 6627 in the grey-green camouflage and

0921 sporting the digital camouflage. The Slovak

national markings on the wings and vertical tail

surfaces as well as unit markings on the engine

intakes were overpainted. Only bort numbers

were retained. The freshly painted areas can

be identified by the higher sheen. The Ukrainian

pilots flew them eastbound, towards the border.

According to the official sources these four MiGs

were immediately deployed to the Kharkiv area

defense. The remaining nine airframes were

delivered to Ukraine by ground.

Besides the fighters Slovakia also delivered fuel,

lubricants, spare parts and ground equipment

to Ukraine. AA systems 2K12 Kub (SA-6 Gainfull)

with 200 missiles were donated as well. For

the delivered fighters and rockets, Slovakia

was compensated from EU funds. At the same

time Slovakia was offered to purchase 12 Bell

AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters. These aircraft

were originally manufactured for Pakistan, but

the Americans ultimately cancelled the sales.

Slovakia should receive them at one third of the

original price. It’s a compensation for Mig-29

transfer to Ukraine as well as delayed delivery

of new F-16s.

Falklands war veteran

It took more than a year to deliver fighters

from Poland and Slovakia since the talks about

it started. It’s not an isolated case though. For

example, the delivery of 14 Mi-8 helicopters from

The photograph from SIAF 2018 held at Sliač shows Mig-29AS bort number 6627. The tape

in front of the windshield indicates rather poor technical condition but in the end this

aircraft was one of those which did fly to Ukraine.

Mig-29AS bort number 0921 sporting digital camouflage is getting ready to

depart for Ukraine on March 23, 2023.

The Ukrainian armed forces published

the video featuring Mi-24 helicopters

of the Czech origin. The video contains

the older images, for example those

showing the sunflowers.

26

INFO Eduard

Four Slovak Mig-29AS are getting ready to depart from Sliač to Ukraine.

The aircraft bort number 6124 is in the foreground.

June 2023