Former defence minister Ľubomír Galko (Freedom and Solidarity/SaS) is responsible for impairing the fighting capacity of Slovakia's air force, thereby putting the country's security in jeopardy, according to current Defence Minister Martin Glvač (Smer-SD). Glvač said that Galko's administration (2010-11) was supposed to ensure that the country's 12 Russian MiG 29 fighter aircraft were fully operational.
The contract signed with the Russian supplier stipulated that the Russian side was obliged to service the fleet so that all the planes would be ready to use. Nonetheless, at the time when the contract expired in 2011 some fighters were missing engines and appropriate landing gear. On top of that, the Russian side pledged in the contract to take care of shipping spare parts and subsequent repairs of the planes. This wasn't the case, however, said Glvač. “The MiG 29s weren't made use of at all, with their parts being dismantled [and used to repair other planes],” stated the minister. The former leadership of the Defence Ministry allegedly tolerated the ‘cannibalism’ of the aircraft, thus assuming full responsibility for their condition. Glvač further observed that such ‘looting’ resulted in damage worth millions of euros and impaired the fighting capacity of the aircraft.
