Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

NATO says the upgrade will bring the base - once home to Soviet- and Chinese-made MiG fighter jets - up to alliance standards by renovating the runways, taxiways, and storage facilities.

With 100 meters height the helicopter "Kugyr" flew over the "Alexander Battenberg" Square in Sofia this morning, announced BNT.

The Bulgarian national flag was launched down from the helicopter.

Two "Kugyres" 704 and 711, which are a part of "Krumovo" airbase escorted the helicopter "MIG-17", which was the flag-bearer during the military parad. 

During the Korean War (1950 to 1953) America and her allies sided with South Korea, while Russia and China sided with North Korea. Among their many weapons, the US had the North American F-86 Sabre (also called the Sabrejet), while North Korea used the Russian MIG-15. Both sides were therefore curious to know about the other’s planes. Which is why, the Soviets decided to steal a Sabre.

The Albanian Defence Ministry has postponed an auction of old Russian and Chinese-made military planes following an unexpectedly large number of requests to take part in the bidding.

Earlier this month, the ministry put out a routine announcement of an auction on February 22 to sell 36 planes and four helicopters parked in military aerodromes.