Poland Delivering More MiG-29 Fighters to Ukraine After Major Combat Losses

Secretary of State at the Polish Defence Ministry Pawel Zalewski has confirmed that up to nine MiG-29 fighters being retired from the Polish Air Force will be transferred as aid to the Ukrainain Air Force. He noted that the process has received full political approval, with the Polish and Ukrainian defence authorities currently coordinating over issues including the aircraft’s condition, logistics, and maintenance planning. Polish officials have linked the MiG-29 transfer to discussions on a broader exchange framework under which Poland may gain access to Ukrainian-developed drone and counter-drone technologies. The Polish MiG-29 fleet is being replaced by FA-50 lightweight fighters ordered from South Korea in 2022, which although far inferior in their flight performances, have considerably lower sustainment costs and maintenance needs and integrate cutting edge avionics and weaponry. 

The MiG-29 was developed in parallel to the Su-27 air superiority fighter as a lighter and less costly counterpart, and in the early 1990s demonstrated considerable advantages over Western fighter types in its visual range combat capabilities, and the ability to hold its own against fighters such as the F-16 and F-18 at beyond visual ranges. The aircraft were inherited in significant numbers by the Ukrainain Air Force after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, with Ukrainian losses in combat with Russian forces from 2022 having been replenished by deliveries from multiple former Warsaw Pact states across Eastern Europe. The fighter is one of five currently in service in the Ukrainain Air Force alongside the Su-27, the Su-24M strike fighter, and much lighter F-16 and Mirage 2000 single engine fighters that have more recently been delivered by Western European NATO members. 

MiG-29s have taken particularly significant losses in air-to-air combat while achieving no confirmed kills against manned Russian aircraft. A particularly intensive ten days of air battles in October 2023 reportedly saw 17 MiG-29s shot down in air-to-air engagements with Russian fighters. Despite the aircraft’s limitations, in the early weeks of the war Ukrainian government and Western media sources widely reported that a MiG-29 piloted by a local ace, named the ‘Ghost of Kiev,’ gained tremendous numbers of kills against Russian fighters, although it was was later widely confirmed that these narratives had been false and were propagated to boost morale. Despite the losses incurred, the fighters have been prized for their outstanding ability to operate from short or makeshift runways, and have integrated American AGM-88 anti-radiation missiles to be able to better target Russian air defence systems.

All five fighter types in Ukrainian service are considered effectively obsolete, with both Russian and Ukrainian sources highlighting that they are far from capable of engaging modern Russian fighters in air-to-air combat. A modern variant of the MiG-29, the MiG-29M, is significantly more capable, and has been built for export with an advanced phased array radar, active radar guided air-to-air missiles, a glass cockpit, and modern avionics including advanced data links. There is a technological gap of over two decades between these aircraft and those being supplied to Ukraine, which were built in the 1980s.