Amid the ongoing war in Ukraine (and Moldova, including pro-Russian separatist Transnistria, soon ?), Poland announced it is ready to defend Slovakia’s airspace if this country transfers its MiG-29AS fighter planes to the Ukrainian Air Force, R.RepublicWorld.com reports.
As reported by Air Recognition on 16 April, Slovakia is in talks with NATO allies and the United States to provide its fleet of MiG-29AS fighter aircraft to Ukraine if alternative airspace protection of its own air space could be secured. “I got a confirmation that Poland is ready to take care of Slovakia’s air space from the moment Slovakia decides to ground the MiG-29 jets,” Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad stated at a joint press conference along with his Polish counterpart Mariusz Błaszczak, Sky News reported. As the Ukrainian air force operates between 37 and 70 MiG-29s (present figure unknown), including 8 used for conversion training, the Slovak ones could be easily and quickly used by Ukrainian pilots without specific training.