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The MiG-29s are not going to be grounded: Defence Minister

Minister of Defence Georgi Panayotov (R) at Graf Ignatievo
Photo: mod.bg

Minister of Defence in the caretaker government Georgi Panayotov denied rumours that the MiG-29 fighter aircraft are going to be grounded after the incident in the Black Sea in which a pilot was killed.

During a meeting with the personnel at Graf Ignatievo airbase, attended by Chief of Defence Admiral Emil Eftimov, Minister Panayotov stated that the fighters are within their life cycle, that they have a maintenance contract and that their exploitation will continue. On their part the pilots asked for more clarity regarding the number of training flight hours.

The search for the black box of the MiG-29 which crashed into the Black Sea has not been resumed yet due to bad weather conditions. 



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