The question of supplying Ukraine with the NATO-modernized MiG-29 jets is under discussion again. For example, Slovakia expresses its readiness to transfer its MiG-29SA to Ukraine, to get payment from NATO for them.
Poland publicly calls for the transfer of all the necessary weapons to Ukraine, while directly says that it will not be able to give Ukraine Polish F-16s, since the country itself does not have enough of such fighter jets. Which, in turn, may hint at Warsaw's readiness to hand over MiG-29s that were modernized to NATO standards.
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But if even now there is talk that Ukraine can receive MiG-29s from neighboring countries, then the question arises: where did the Pentagon get the resources for the aid that helped Ukraine to put into service 20 combat aircraft at once. At the time, it was about "parts and additional platforms" (i.e. planes).
Defense Express reminds about a hint as a form of answer in the article of the portal The Drive as of March 2022.
The authors of this publication then decided to remind about this interesting fact: in June 1997, the USA bought 21 MiG-29 fighters from Moldova (one of which was upgraded to the UB modification) for 40 million dollars. And also a certain supply of components for these aircraft and a significant supply of air-to-air missiles: 344 R-60 missiles, 112 R-73 missiles, and 51 R-27R.
The US purchased these fighter jets in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of Yemen and Iran. It is known that immediately eight of the 21 "Moldovan" MiG-29s were put into storage and dismantled, while the other 13 were actively used as "aggressors" under the DACT program during air battles training.
As of the beginning of 2022, it was known that eight former Moldovan MiG-29s "migrated" to the exposition and stocks of various US aerospace museums. But another, unknown number of fighters of this type continued to be used as "aggressors" under the DACT program to train pilots of the US Air Force. The technical serviceability of these MiG-29s was maintained due to "cannibalism of spare parts".
But it should not be ruled out that as of March 2022, the USA had a sufficient number of serviceable fighters of this type and condition components, which were then used to strengthen Ukraine.
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