Brandon Weichert, a columnist for the American magazine 19FortyFive, writes that.
The author notes that Washington feared the transfer of the MiG-29, which is capable of supersonic speed and can carry nuclear weapons, to third countries (in particular, Iran), so it purchased 21 airplanes from Moldova.
The U.S. Department of Defense purchased 21 MiG-29 fighters from Moldova in 1997. They were inherited by the republic after the collapse of the USSR. The Soviet interceptors were delivered by C-17 military transport aircraft to the Dayton base in Ohio. In exchange, Moldova received $40 million in humanitarian aid from the Pentagon, as well as army trucks and other equipment.
After the planes fell into American hands, they were used for testing, evaluation, and combat training (where U.S. fighter pilots could train against the latest Soviet technology, which many U.S. adversaries were using at the time).
These aircraft were intended to train a cadre of American pilots proficient in the latest Soviet technology and air combat tactics, following the acquisition of the MiG-29C modification from Moldova.
Weichert writes that in the past few years there have been rumors that Ukraine has received some of the MiG-29s acquired by the Americans.
“It is believed that these older MiG-29s acquired by the Americans from Moldova were later transferred to the Ukrainians, who used the planes as spare parts,” the publication says.
