Defence Ministry: Two new F-16 fighter jets delivered to Bulgaria
Two new F-16 fighter jets arrived in Bulgaria on October 3 in fulfillment of the 2019 contract, the country’s Defence Ministry said.
The aircraft landed at the Graf Ignatievo near Bulgaria’s city of Plovdiv.
Of the combat aircraft that arrived on October 3, one is a single-seater and one a double-seater, the Defence Ministry said.
The aircraft were flown by pilots from the United States and arrived in Bulgaria with US Air Force registration marks. Their decals will be changed to those of the Bulgarian Air Force.
The procedures for technical and flight acceptance of the equipment by the personnel of the Third Air Base are pending, the ministry said.
The Defence Ministry statement quoted Defence Chief Admiral Emil Eftimov as saying: “We are welcoming two more F-16 aircraft. The goal is to have eight aircraft by the end of 2025.
“The F-16 Block 70 is being mastered, several flights have been made on the first two aircraft, our technicians are working together with their American colleagues from the US Air Force and with representatives of the manufacturing company,” Eftimov said, referring to Lockheed Martin.
“I am convinced that the process will go more smoothly in the future, every beginning is difficult.
“The largest modernisation is being carried out in the Air Force – new aircraft are arriving, we have a contract for an anti-aircraft missile complex and are working on even more complexes under the SAFE mechanism, we are in the final stages of concluding a contract for three-coordinate radars.
“The road is forward and the modernisation of the Bulgarian Army continues at an irrevocable pace,” he said.
The first of the F-16s that Bulgaria is acquiring arrived in the country on April 2 2025 and the second on June 8.
By the end of 2025, in fulfillment of the 2019 contract, Bulgaria should receive a total of eight such aircraft.
The Bulgarian Air Force will have one F-16 Block 70 squadron by the end of 2027, when eight more aircraft are expected to be delivered under the second contract.
(Photo: Defence Ministry)
