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at [email protected]http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #363 JUNE 2018 // 13
Greece approves ‘Viper’ upgrade
Belarus to
donate four
MiG-29s to
Serbia
SERBIA WILL receive
four MiG-29 fighters from
Belarus, Serbian Defence
Minister Aleksandar Vulin
revealed in an interview on
April 21. Minsk will donate
the jets in accordance
with an agreement
between Serbian President
Aleksandar Vučić and his
Belarusian counterpart
Alexander Lukashenko. The
Fulcrums will be overhauledand modernised to the same
standard as the six second-
hand aircraft received
from Russia last October
(see Former Russian
MiG-29s arrive in Serbia,
December 2017, p11).In January last year, it
was revealed that Belarus
would donate eight MiG-
29s (izdeliye 9.13) to Serbia
(see Serbia to acquire MiG-
29s from Belarus, March
2017, p11). It is unclear ifthe remaining four jets will
be provided at a later date.
Vulin recently revealed
plans to upgrade Serbia’s
ten Fulcrums to a
standard known as MiG-
29SD (‘SD’ standing forSerbskij Dorabotany, or
Serbian Modified). He
also announced that five
Serbian pilots will soon
be dispatched to Russia
for MiG-29 training.
Igor BozinovskiAbove: Belarus currently operates around 34 MiG-29s with the Baranovichi-based 61st Fighter Air Base. They are mostly
Soviet-era MiG-29 9.13 fi ghters and two-seat MiG-29UB trainers, but also include fi ve MiG-29BMs – a local modernisation of
the 9.13. Stanislav BazhenovIN A bid to provide Slovakia
with replacements for its
MiG-29 fleet, the US has
authorised the sale of 14
F-16V fighters and active
electronically scanned
array (AESA) radars
in a deal valued up to$2.91bn. The (^) US Defense
Security Co-operation
Agency (DSCA) announced
US State Department
approval of the potential
sale on April 4.
As well as 14 F-16V Block
70/72 aircraft, Slovakia
has requested a possible
sale of 16 APG-83 AESA
radars, 14 modular
mission computers and
14 Joint Helmet Mounted
Cueing Systems (JHMCS).
Requested weapons and
stores include 30 AIM-
120C-7 AMRAAMs, 100
AIM-9X Sidewinders, 224
sets of guidance kits for
500lb (227kg) GBU -
Paveway II laser-guided
bombs, 20 guidance kits
for GBU-49 Enhanced
Paveway IIs, 150 guidance
kits for 500lb GBU-38 Joint
Direct Attack Munition
(JDAMs) and six AN/A AQ-
33 Sniper targeting pods.
The Slovakian Ministry of
Defence is also in talks with
the Swedish government
over the potential
procurement or lease of
JAS 39C/D Gripen fighters.
Slovakia aims to acquire
new fighter jets before
2019, when a servicing
deal for the current
MiG-29s is set to expire.
F-16V approved for Slovakia
Above: Slovakian MiG-29AS 2123 at its Sliač home base. A replacement for the ten frontline MiG-29AS fi ghters and two
MiG-29UBs is becoming increasingly urgent. Igor Bozinovski
Above: Hellenic Air Force F-16D Block 52+ serial 617 of 343 Mira touches down at Souda after a training sortie. Once upgrade work begins, it is expected that
12 F-16s will be redelivered to the HAF each year. Peter R Foster
GREECE’S COUNCIL
on Foreign Policy and
Defence (KYSEA) has
approved a €1.2bn deal
to upgrade more than
half of the F-16s of the
Elliniki Polemiki Aeroporia
(Hellenic Air Force, HAF).
The proposal, agreed in
Athens on April 28, covers
modernisation of 85 F-16C/
Ds to F-16CV/DV(GR)
standard, equivalent to the
F-16V Block 72, including
AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile
Beam Radar (SABR) and
new mission computers.
This total incorporates
the surviving 55 Block 52+
aircraft from the Peace
Xenia III programme (
single-seat F-16Cs and 18
two-seat F-16Ds) and the
30 Block 52+ Advanced
jets remaining from Peace
Xenia IV (20 C-models
and ten D-models).
Approval was granted
after the US accepted
a revised Greek
proposal that takes into
consideration Greece’s
fiscal commitments and
constraints in the coming
years. Athens will pay for
the improvements until
2027 or 2028, but the US
has agreed to cap annual
payments at €150m.
Upgrade work will be
carried out in Greece
by Hellenic Aerospace
Industries, and the first
modernised F-16 could be
delivered as early as 2020.