Foreign tourists interest in Albanian MiGs

TIRANA, April 26 – Foreign tourists have been very much interests to have a look of the MiG jets that now have been stopped from using, the local media reported Thursday. Some 200 foreign tourists have visited in April the military airport in Kucove where there are a number of jets used until recently. Albania has stopped using MiG fighter jets by the end of 2005 because of high maintenance costs and the planes’ unreliability, the country’s top military official said Friday. Albania’s military used 125 Soviet- and Chinese-made MiG-17, MiG-19 and MiG-21 jets. It also has used MiG-15s for training. Albania now relies on helicopters for military and humanitarian purposes. Tirana also plans to use military surveillance planes after 2007. Albania is reforming its military in hopes of joining NATO in 2008.