Warplanes: <b>December 4, 1999</b>

December 4, 1999

Andra Simonyi, the Hungarian ambassador to NATO, bluntly warned the Alliance on 20 Nov that his country could not afford to buy new jet fighters or upgrade the 27 MiG-29s on hand to German/NATO standards. Simonyi warned that this country would meet its own defense needs first, and only then spend money to adapt those forces to the specialized roles envisioned by NATO war planners. This does not bode well for the Alliance, which has grown weaker and even more fractious after the recent round of new members. Those three new members are relatively weak, having outdated Soviet-built military forces and not nearly enough money to bring them into line with other NATO units. The eastern borders of the three new members are the most exposed and vulnerable borders in the Alliance, and the forces behind them are the weakest and hardest to reinforce. Hungarian, Polish, and Czech units cannot use the NATO ammunition and spare parts supply lines (and arriving NATO reinforcements cannot draw on local stockpiles), and the three countries have nowhere near enough English-speaking officers. The MiG-29 fleet is the case in point. While the MiG-29 Fulcrum is a quite serviceable fighter, it lacks NATO compatible radios and IFF (Identification: Friend or Foe) equipment. It is nearly impossible for a NATO plane to identify a Hungarian MiG as friendly. This could lead to either grounding the Hungarian Air Force during a conflict, or seeing them shot down by their Allies in a series of Friendly Fire accidents. The onboard computers are far behind NATO standard, making the aircraft less effective. Spare parts are scarce and have to be ordered from Russia. The Hungarian Fulcrums cannot refuel in mid-air, making their usefulness in various operations (e.g., over Serbia) extremely limited. As was reported in FYEO five years ago, numerous Western critics of NATO expansion cited these problems and were ignored.--Stephen V Cole