ATHENS

Bulgaria has problems with the maintenance of its MiG-29 aircraft, the county’s defense minister said on Wednesday.

"The MiG-29s are maintained with effort, but their engines cannot be maintained in this way," Todor Tagarev said during his hearing at the parliament’s defense committee, according to the BGNES news agency.

He added that the country hopes to ink a contract for the maintenance of the engines to be able to fly MiG-29 planes until the delivery of the US-made F-16s which starts in 2025.

Tagarev also said that the Bulgarian armed forces are understaffed as recruitment goals cannot be met.

As such, he said, an increase in the salaries of military personnel would be helpful.