On the transfer of Slovak MiG-29s and the general state of the air forces of Ukraine

On the transfer of Slovak MiG-29s and the general state of the air forces of Ukraine A little less than a week ago, Slovakia (https://t.me/rybar/44760) approved the delivery of 13 MiG-29 fighters for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as part of military assistance. Today, the Slovak Defense Ministry confirmed that four MiG-29s have already been transferred to Ukraine. In exchange for this, Bratislava hopes (https://t.me/wingsofwar/14735) to raise more than $900 million in compensation, $700 million of which will be used to secure contracts concluded with the United States for the purchase of weapons and equipment. 🔻What's wrong with Slovak fighters? The amount requested is quite surprising, given that the MiGs were withdrawn from the Slovak Air Force back in August 2022 and their condition is unknown. During the last flight of the MiGs, only five aircraft were involved in the event. According to some reports, these five units for 2022 were the only fighters that were combat ready. The rest needed either a major overhaul, or were partially disassembled into spare components and assemblies to maintain the performance of the remaining MiG-29s. 🔻 That is, Ukraine will receive only a part of the fighters? It is likely that the Slovaks will hand over all 13 declared fighters, just some of them will be handed over in a non-working condition. And the repair and restoration will fall on Ukrainian engineers, together with specialists from Western countries. What will not be put into operation will go to the details. ▪️Ukrainian authorities since the beginning of the NMD have established repair bases for old Soviet aircraft, using the help of the West. According to the documents of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as of 2022, there were 203 tactical aviation units on the balance sheet of the Ukrainian air force, including training ones. ▪️In addition, 68 aircraft of various types were in storage, including MiG-29, Su-24M, Su-24MR, Su-25M (Ukrainian modification M1) and Su-27. It was this number of flight equipment that was listed in the air forces of Ukraine. 🔻Where are so many planes from? These figures were officially present in all reporting documents of the Ukrainian General Staff, but this does not mean that the Armed Forces of Ukraine really had such a number of tactical aircraft. ▪️Adjusting for the level of corruption in all spheres of life in Ukraine, at least half of the combat aircraft were either inoperative or sold out for spare parts. As a rule, only a certain part of fighters, attack aircraft and bombers functioned in military units at tactical aviation base airfields, and the rest served as a visual confirmation of their presence for inspections. ▪️After the return of Crimea to Russia, Ukraine began to prepare its armed forces for war, and the situation with aviation was taken under complete control: for lack of a better one, the Ukrainian command began to restore what it was. ▪️And with the beginning of the conflict, specialists from Eastern Europe began to provide support to Ukrainian formations. Dozens of aircraft were restored on the basis of Polish repair enterprises (https://t.me/rybar/40743), as well as at air bases in Western Ukraine, which led to a quantitative increase in aviation sorties by the new year. 🔻Perspectives Despite certain nuances, the transfer of old Slovak MiGs will have a positive impact on the combat capabilities of the Ukrainian air force. Some part will be restored and adapted for combat operations by joint efforts, and the other part will be used to restore other damaged aircraft. Now a similar step on the "gratuitous" transfer of Soviet aircraft is expected from the leadership of Poland. According to media reports, the Poles are ready to hand over 20 MiG-29 fighters. The condition of Polish aircraft is many times better than that of Slovak ones - in Warsaw, Soviet equipment was regularly updated and modernized to NATO standards (https://t.me/rybar/37675). 🔻It is not worth expecting the complete destruction of the Ukrainian air forces in the near future. Despite dozens of losses (58 according to Oryx, 25 according to LostArmour), there are still enough aircraft on the balance sheet of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to control the airspace. And some of them are already ready for the use of NATO

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