/View.info/ There will be new fighter planes when the income is raised and trains are bought, i.e. another time
The air wars in the country got very rough. On Thursday, the unexpected scandal between the prime minister and the president reached unprecedented heights – the two publicly and sharply separated themselves from the DPS MP Delyan Peevski. After mutual accusations about who had what kind of relationship with Peevski, Boyko Borisov “dipped” on the subject of fighter jets.
“Perhaps the president cannot forgive me that we did not buy fighter jets for several billion leva, but our priorities are different – to increase the income of a number of groups of people,” he said.
New five! Two successive governments of Borisov swore that they would buy new planes for the army. Two years in a row, the budget has provided hundreds of millions for new military equipment. But in the end the rulers put the money in question in the surplus and brag about it, instead of dusting their heads that they did nothing. Now it appears that we will wait for incomes to rise. That is, another time!
“We gave a huge amount of money, over several billion BGN, for the army and over 90% of it is for the Air Force – we bought Cougar helicopters and Spartan planes, but now they are in such a condition that they don’t fly. Let the president say who signed the contracts for these machines so that now they cannot fly,” Borisov snapped, as if Radev was personally to blame for this.
How the scandal between the two came to be
from airplanes to “public procurement in the interest of Peevski”
(quote from President Rumen Radev) – the audience did not understand. However, Borisov confirmed this fact by saying: “Maybe Radev can’t forgive me for not buying these fighter jets for several billion”. And he promised him again (for what time already?): “We will buy airplanes, everything will be fine”.
It’s clear that there won’t be any new fighter jets anytime soon. We are witnessing a theater aimed at positions and influence, including winning votes, as well as geostrategic games and various business models. And the topic is an excellent terrain for settling accounts – from personal to political.
Defense Minister Krasimir Karakachanov admitted it indirectly while he was nagging the president. During his recent visit to France, the aviation ace liked the local Rafale fighter jets very much and allowed Bulgaria to acquire them. He therefore suggested asking for an offer from France. Karakachanov directly informed him that the Rafale aircraft costs around 100 million euros and made it clear that there was no way Bulgaria could have it.
“If you don’t have money to repair your Opel, you don’t dream of a Mercedes S class” –
this iconic line describes the entire farce
After all, the procedure for the purchase of new combat aircraft has been going on for months and 3 countries and brands have already been selected – Sweden with the Gripen, Italy with the Eurofighter and the USA with the F-16. According to the declared preferences, Rumen Radev obviously wants a new “Gripen”, and the second in GERB, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, is a supporter of the American F-16. Karakachanov regrets that due to the sanctions imposed on Russia, the MiG-35 cannot be requested. Deputy Prime Minister Valery Simeonov categorically opposes the purchase of “excessively expensive military toys”.
As for Borisov – some time ago he got involved with the news that we will first buy trains and then planes. And knowing that there are no plans to buy trains anytime soon, it’s clear that planes will have to wait as well.
At this pace of procedures, interpretations, theaters, fights, assumptions, Bulgaria will not have new fighter jets in five years. In order for the procedure to continue, a decision of the parliament will certainly be needed. It will have to comply with the recommendation of the same National Assembly that more bids be requested, as well as the recommendation of the National Security Advisory Council (NSAC) to reschedule payments for future deals for the new fighter jets and ships.
What is the current situation?
The government has officially stopped the project
for building ships – also for hundreds of millions of BGN. It turned out that the tender failed due to legal obstacles, because VAT is charged on the project and its price jumps. Even before the start of a government meeting before the New Year, the point to sign a contract for the ships was withdrawn by the minister, who announced that the “Delphin” company had given up on the contract in a letter. And it is the only company that was approved to build the two ships for the battle fleet. However, due to an oversight related to the VAT Law, the money for the order decreased from BGN 850 million to BGN 686 million. Now, new letters had to be sent again to the manufacturers of similar class of ships. Karakachanov explained that for the same reason, the amount determined for the new multi-purpose fighters has decreased from BGN 1.5 billion to BGN 1.2 billion. Therefore, he wants the projects for ships and planes to be re-voted by the National Assembly.
And while the projects are postponed for the uncertain future, including the one for the fighters, investments in the 15 MiG-29s that Bulgaria has at its disposal have begun to intensify. First, over the protests of the military pilots from Count Ignatievo, it became clear that
several new engines were bought from Russia
and others were also repaired there. Then a surprising public order was launched for over BGN 80 million, in which there is only one possible participant – the Russian state company “Russian Aircraft Company “MiG”. It is for “integrated logistics support” of the 15 aircraft worth 81.2 million BGN
By all accounts, there appears to be no real desire to carry out any project for new military equipment. Now we will wait for what NATO and the EU will say, and it will certainly not be late. The point is that the plot with the planes is very indicative of the rest of GERB’s ambitions. And the scorched “airplane” terrain will continue to be a comfortable arena for the struggles of the first in the state.
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Photos: Mihaela Katerinska Obviously, for a long time to come, Russian MiGs will be flying both at the aviation demonstrations and on St. George’s Day. |
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BGNES Defense Minister Krasimir Karakachanov admitted it indirectly while he was nagging the president. During his recent visit to France, the aviation ace liked the local Rafale fighter jets very much and allowed Bulgaria to acquire them. He therefore suggested asking for an offer from France. Karakachanov directly informed him that the Rafale aircraft costs around 100 million euros and made it clear that there was no way Bulgaria could have it. |
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