Bulgaria Faces Delays in F-16 Reception Due to Infrastructure and Pilot Training Shortages

18 November, 2024 Flight of the first Bulgarian fighter F-16 Block 70. USA, October 22, 2024. Photo: Ministry of Defense of Bulgaria

The Bulgarian Armed Forces are not ready to receive new F-16 Block 70 fighter jets due to the lack of necessary infrastructure and trained pilots. This was reported by Euractiv with reference to the country's acting Defense Minister, Atanas Zapryanov. Next year, Bulgaria is to receive eight aircraft, with the first two arriving in late March or early April 2025.

The rest of the F-16s are due to arrive in the second quarter or late third quarter.

Flight of the first Bulgarian fighter F-16 Block 70. USA, October 22, 2024. Photo: Ministry of Defense of Bulgaria

All eight planes are to be based in Bulgaria at the Graf Ignatievo Air Base, whose infrastructure is not ready to receive these aircraft.

"We will get them, but they cannot stay on the ground. We need to start combat training for the pilots immediately. If the pilots do not fly for a certain period of time, we will be forced to send them back for retraining.

That's why we are also rushing the infrastructure. This is a big challenge," the Minister explained. Zapryanov added that all the pilots were sent to the United States for training, but some of them have returned and their training is ongoing.

"We have already trained a pilot and an instructor. I hope that we will have enough pilots when the first eight aircraft arrive," he said. The F-16 contracts call for 32 pilots to be trained, but there is little official information on how this process is progressing.

According to official information, only 10 pilots have been sent for training.

Flight of the first Bulgarian fighter F-16 Block 70. USA, October 22, 2024. Photo: Ministry of Defense of Bulgaria

Recently, on October 28, Militarnyi reported that the first F-16 Block 70 fighter jet for the Bulgarian Air Force had made a test flight.

During the flight, a large number of system tests were conducted to verify the operational and speed capabilities of the fighter. The F-16 is the first of 16 combat aircraft of this type to be delivered to Bulgaria under two contracts signed in 2019 and 2022, respectively. The Block 70/72 fighter jets were ordered to replace the fleet of outdated MiG-29 fighters.

Initially, the first American fighters were expected to enter service with the Bulgarian Air Force in 2023-24, but the deadline was postponed.