US purchase of Moldovan MiG-29s; An Inquiry

[Bacardi]

What's up all,

I had in intresting conversation with a CF-18 Driver a few days back. My college hosted a Career Fair and present were Officers and Enlisted representing the three branches of the service. To my surprise their was a Hornet Driver on shore duty @ the Fair. We began a conversation that eventually led to RED FLAG and MAPLE FLAG, the Captain informed me that German MIG-29s were present and what a blast it was for him and other NATO pilots fight aganist them. My questions are:

 

-what is the status of Moldovan MiG-29s that the U.S bought?

 

-What is the status of that Special Squadron which tested all the Soviet bloc airframes the U.S acquired during the Cold War and why don't the U.S use those Moldovan MiG-29s for Adversary Training @ RED FLAG?

 

 

I'm curious about the Fulcrums, any help would be appreciated,

 

Bacardi.

[CowboyTodd41]

well the US bought 28 Mig's from Molodva that is correct, And the cold war squadron had Mig-21's Mig-23's and Mig-27's

[+Dave]

Those Mig-29's were capable of carryin nukes so the US bought them to keep them out of the wrong hands. They are sitting in storage in Arizona right now in big crates.

[biosurge]

i heard they are for sale and will throw in a couple of nukes if you got the casones to fly to iraq....lol

[+ST0RM]

Actually there were 21 MiG-29s bought from Moldova. 14 were of the Fulcrum-C variant, 6 Fulcrum-A, and a single UB trainer. In addition, over 500 Air to Air missiles were purchased in the deal. Currently, the UB sits at the front of the National Air & Space Intelligence Center (NAIC).

 

The others were tested at Wright-Patterson AFB, where they were flown, torn apart, reassembled, and sent off for further testing. One the C-models is in the Nellis AFB's Threat Center as a display. I've been there twice now and was able to thoroughly go over it. Another was sent to Eglin AFB for weapons testing. Basically asa dummy to see the effects of our missiles against it, within certain parameters. The disposition of the others is a bit foggy. I was told from an Intel friend of mine who states that a few still exist in their complete form at Wright-Patt, while the others were indeed crated up for storage.

 

 

As for starting up the Red Hat Aggressor unit with the Fulcrums, it wont happen. The Fulcrums are very expensive to maintain, even with the spares that were included in the deal. Why do you think the Germans got rid of them?!? However, when the F/A-22 arrives at Langley, the 71st FS will go to Nellis and become a dedicated Aggressor unit, flying the F-15Cs as Su-27 stand-ins.

 

Storm