air force

During his two-day official visit to Poland, Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev and his Polish counterpart Tomasz Siemoniak signed in Warsaw on Thursday the agreement on the repair of Bulgaria's MiG-29 fighter jets.

Russia has refused to comment on possible plans to open a new military base in Syria, following a high-ranking general's comments on the matter. 

"Officials from the Defense Ministry and the General Staff should be asked about military [matters]," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Oct. 16 when asked about the statement.

Bulgarian Defense Minister has ordered that the country's Air Force and Navy help rescue the crew of a ship sailing under a Turkish flag which is stranded off Bulgarian waters.

Russia will stop the maintenance of Bulgarian Air Force MiG-29s, if the government in Sofia signs a deal with Poland for the repair of their engines, Sergei Korotkov, Director General of the jets' Russian manufacturer MiG Corp., said on Friday.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) called on Muslims on Oct. 13 to wage jihad on Russia and the United States, as Moscow announced it had intensified its air campaign against Islamic militants in Syria.

Russia has delayed a planned observation flight over Turkey upon a received request from Turkish authorities, Interfax reported on Oct. 12, citing the Russian Defense Ministry. 

The Iraqi air force struck a convoy of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in western Anbar province close to the Syrian border on Oct. 11, a military statement said. 

The fate of the militant leader, who has declared himself the leader of a caliphate in areas his ultrahardline Sunni group controls in Iraq and Syria, is unknown, the military said. 

Syrian fighter jets and missile systems harassed Turkish F-16 warplanes near the Turkish-Syrian border on Oct. 10, the Turkish military said on Oct. 11, once again bringing the conflict to NATO's southeastern flank. 

Bulgarian Air Force Commander Brig Gen Rumen Radev on Wednesday called for the urgent acquisition of new multirole aircraft.

Brig Gen Radev also warned in an interview with public broadcaster BNT on Monday evening that the government's move to have MiG-29 fighters' engines overhauled in Poland was only a temporary solution to the Air Force's problems.

Belarus President Aleksander Lukashenko has denied reports that his country might host a Russian military base.

Setting up an Air Force base in Belarus was never an issue between Lukashenko and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, BELTA agency quotes him as saying.