Poland, which joined NATO in 1999, will be able to use the second-hand Russian-designed single-seat jets, inherited by Berlin from former East Germany, until 2014.

Germany agreed last year to loan 128 Leopard battle tanks and MiG-29s to Poland under a 58-million-euro (67-million-dollar) defence deal aimed at helping Warsaw's integration into the North Atlantic alliance.

Struck said this kind of cooperation between the two neighbours would continue.

The Polish air force already has at least 22 MiG-29s, some of which were acquired from the Soviet Union in 1989 and others which arrived from the Czech Republic in 1995 in an exchange for Polish helicopters.

WAR.WIRE