[Skybird]

[Frankfurter Rundschau] The USA has bought 81 Soviet-designed fighter planes and bombers at auction. This was reported by the Ukrainian daily newspaper Kyiv Post. The seller is Kazakhstan. For several years, the country has been gradually replacing its outdated fleet with more modern aircraft, relying on both Russian and Western manufacturers.

As part of this process, it was announced last October that a further large batch, 117 aircraft in total, are to be sold. These include MiG-31 interceptors, MiG-27 fighter-bombers, MiG-29 fighters and Su-24 bombers from the 1970s and 1980s. The estimated purchase price was one billion tenge, the equivalent of around 2.1 million euros.

The Kazakh side pointed out in the offer that the aircraft were in an unserviceable condition and that their modernization was considered economically impractical. Their usefulness as a source of spare parts was limited. Nevertheless, the USA is said to have acquired 81 of these aircraft via offshore companies. This is according to the Russian news site reporter.ru and the Ukrainian Telegram channel Insider UA. The aircraft that the USA is said to have purchased include several MiG-27s, MiG-29s and Su-24s.