Two more F-16 fighter jets delivered to Bulgarian Air Force
Two more F-16 Block 70 fighter jets for the Bulgarian Air Force landed at the Third Air Base in Graf Ignatievo near Plovdiv on October 18, the Defence Ministry said.
The first of the F-16s that Bulgaria is acquiring arrived in the country on April 2 2025, the second on June 8 and two new F-16 fighter jets arrived in Bulgaria on October 3.
The Defence Ministry said that the two F-16s that arrived on October 18 were welcomed by Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov, Bulgarian Air Force commander Major General Nikolai Rusev, the Acting Commander of the Third Air Base Colonel Metodi Orlov, representatives of the US mission in Bulgaria and the personnel of the air base.
“The process is proceeding according to the agreed plans with the US government – the first four aircraft have already been received, now two more, and we have until the end of this year to receive the last two, which will fulfill the first contract for the supply of eight aircraft,” the ministry quoted Zapryanov as saying.
“On the eve of 2026, we will have one fulfilled contract with the US, which gives optimism that from now on the technological acceptance of the newly arrived aircraft and their flight tests will begin,” Zapryanov said.
He said that the delivery of additional equipment and other items under the contract is also continuing.
Zapryanov said that everything possible is being done to create conditions for the full-fledged training of pilots on site at the Third Air Base.
He said that at the beginning of his term in office, out of 49 contracts for the construction of infrastructure at the air base, only one site had been completed and accepted.
“We now have 17 sites accepted within 2024 and 2025 and as many more in the process of acceptance. It is important to note that we managed to significantly accelerate the construction of the building for installing the simulator, since in addition to aircraft, it is of utmost importance to have an installed simulator for the training of our pilots,” Zapryanov said.
The two new Bulgarian F-16 Block 70 aircraft are combat (single-seat).
They arrived in Bulgaria with US Air Force decals and the procedures for their technical and flight acceptance are pending.
“By the end of 2025, in implementation of the International BU-D-SAB Agreement, we should receive a total of eight aircraft, six of which are already in our country,” the ministry said.
After the implementation of the second agreement, the Bulgarian Air Force will have one squadron of 16 F-16 aircraft, the statement said.
(Photo: Ministry of Defence)
