The United States has bought 21 advanced Russian-made MiG-29C warplanes from the Republic of Moldova and brought them to America to keep them away from "rogue states, including Iran." Defense Secretary William Cohen told reporters Iran had sought to obtain the advanced fighters — capable of launching nuclear arms — from the former Soviet state which is now one of Eastern Europe's young democracies. But, he said, "over the last two weeks, we have been transporting these MiGs in C-17 transport aircraft from Moldova to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio." Cohen added that Washington had agreed not to reveal the cost of the high-performance jets, among the world's most advanced warplanes and the first C models of the MiG-29 obtained by Washington. "We have credible information that a number of rogue states, including Iran, are attempting to buy available high-tech equipment and weapons in the aftermath of the break-up of the Soviet Union," Cohen said at a Pentagon briefing. "These MiG aircraft were on their shopping list." —Reuters More Bits and Pieces News Experts Split over New Role for National Guard British to Review Executions of WWI Deserters U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC). Dog Tags with Bytes US Women in Uniform Ceremony US Nuclear Test Films US Buys MiGs to Keep them from Rogue States Back to Cry Havoc #20 Table of Contents Back to Cry Havoc List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by David W. Tschanz. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com