One event that happened this week resulted in resignations, demands of resignations and withdrawals of resignations- Bulgaria’s Ministry of Defense announced that it was planning to propose amendments to the Defense Act, according to which the airspace of the Republic of Bulgaria may be carried out by the Bulgarian Armed Forces only, or together with armed forces of allies. The response to this news was so powerful, as though the proposal had already been adopted. Some people started to talk that Bulgaria was about to lose sovereignty, others said that Turkish aircraft would be sent to police the country’s airspace under a NATO agreement. The Bulgarian Socialist Party and Ataka urged the country’s Minister of Defense Nikolay Nenchev to resign. However, the Commander of the Bulgarian Air Forces Brigadier General Rumen Radev was the one who handed in his resignation. We should ask ourselves why did it happen and why Bulgaria’s military aviation was brought to such a miserable condition. That was what Premier Borissov asked General Radev and his answer was:

-Because the number of the functioning fighter jets in Bulgaria is insufficient to do Air Policing.

-The Number of the well-trained pilots has been constantly decreasing and they do not spend enough time in air, which may result in heavy air accidents. Moreover, they are not able to train adequately the young personnel and the Bulgarian pilots are ageing.

-The deadlines negotiated with Bulgaria’s Ministry of Defense regarding the repair and supply of the MIG-29 jets have not been met.

-The project about the purchase of a new fighter jet, developed by General Radev and his team, has not been put on the agenda of the Council of Ministers, despite previous promises.

-The flights of the military aviation have been restricted for months due to the lack of enough fuel.

Premier Boyko Borissov heard that and promised that the state budget would allot EUR 40 million for the most urgent needs of the Bulgarian Air Forces and later General Radev withdrew his resignation. However, it may turn out that Bulgaria is not able to police its airspace because it relies mainly on Russian MIG-29 aircraft. However, only four of them are capable of flying. The authorities did not manage to persuade Russia to continue maintaining the jets and are intending to sign a repair agreement with Poland. According to Moscow, however, Poland does not have the necessary license to do that and that such contracts can not be signed. Besides, Bulgaria can not spend EUR 500 million to buy new jets manufactured in NATO countries. That is why it has to get used to the idea that foreign fighter jets which fly in Bulgaria’s airspace are ones of allies, just like during the times of the Warsaw Pact.