Defence Minister: Bulgaria will receive first eight F-16s on schedule this year
The United States government and F-16 fighter jet manufacturer Lockheed Martin have given an assurance that Bulgaria will receive the first eight of the aircraft on schedule by the end of 2025, Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov told the parliamentary portfolio committee on February 26.
Zapryanov told Parliament’s defence committee that the US inspection group was “very satisfied” with the condition of the infrastructure at Graf Ignatievo air base and about half a billion leva had been allocated for repairs there.
In recent years, there have been concerns that the air base would not be ready in time because of delays in upgrades to ready the facilities to receive the F-16s.
“We will create a super modern infrastructure in Graf Ignatievo not because of the F-16, but because we had some of the oldest air base facilities, from the Warsaw Pact, on the Balkan Peninsula and in Eastern Europe, if you will,” Zapryanov said.
Earlier in February, the Defence Ministry said that the second contract for a further eight F-16s in addition to the first eight would be implemented by the end of 2027.
At its February 26 meeting, Parliament’s defence committee endorsed the defence budget for 2025, which represents 2.09 per cent of GDP for defence.
On February 25, Zapryanov told the Defence Chief’s annual conference that the good news was that the government’s governance programme, adopted on February 24, envisages 2.5 per cent of GDP defence spending in the coming years.
“The level of defence spending of two per cent of GDP is already extremely insufficient,” Zapryanov told the conference.
“We are striving to ensure that defence spending reaches a level of at least 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2026, as well as to maintain this level as a baseline in the long term. Only in this way can we guarantee our contribution to collective defence and the feasibility of national and allied deterrence and defence plans,” he said.
(Photo: Lockheed Martin)
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