Bulgaria announces F-16V Block 70 procurement to replace ageing MiG-29s

[Yongpeng Sun-Tastaufen]

And Taiwan too

Nope. Not Taiwan. America won't allow sales to Taiwan.

 

[YeBeWarned]

Nope. Not Taiwan. America won't allow sales to Taiwan.

They already have it ..

 

[jhungary]

They already have it ..

You know he don't know anything other than just opening mind boggling thread that no one know what's going on and everybody know its false..

 

[Yongpeng Sun-Tastaufen]

They already have it ..

No they don't.

 

[Damir877]

What's the present airframe life of their MiG-29s? Service life?

Not really sure,but i know they got them in the 80's.Since then i would assume they haven't been very well maintained,considering the massive budget cuts to Bulgarian armed forces in general during the 90's.
Given the tense relations between their current government and Russia any repairs and upgrades are out of the question for now so after they receive the F-16's,MIG's will probably get retired.

 

[JohnWick]

Why not upgraded mig 29?

Completed their life.

Everyone is getting F-16V block 70 except PAF (hitwall)

Who "Everyone" getting it except Bulgaria?????

F-18 SH is a better option over F-16 Block 70, leading up to EA-18G.

They don't need EW fighter planes I think.!

 

[A.P. Richelieu]

Purchase of new fighter jets by Bulgaria pits President against Prime Minister

Bulgaria’s President Rumen Radev slammed on Sunday (6 January) the government of Boyko Borissov for having “perverted” the procedure for the acquisition of new fighter jets.

Bulgaria wants to buy eight fighter jets to replace its ageing Soviet-designed MiG-29s, in a tender estimated at 1.8 billion levs (€900 million). The United States offered two options: either new Lockheed Martin F-16V jets or new Boeing F-18 Super Hornets. Sweden offered new Saab Gripen jets, while Italy proposed supplying second-hand Eurofighters.

Speaking to journalists at the last EU summit, Borissov made it clear that he had made his choice in favour of F-16.

Bulgarian PM: Pilots tell me F-16 is best
Bulgaria needs a plane capable not only of patrolling, but conducting combat operations and winning, and that means buying F-16s, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov told journalists on Friday (14 December), adding that he didn’t want to influence an ongoing tender in the country.

On 21 December, it was announced that the government will propose to the Parliament the country to buy the F-16 Block 72 ‘Viper’ to be built by Lockheed Martin.

The Swedish company Saab criticised the decision, saying that the Bulgarian side had “changed the rules of the game” and that in making its choice for F-16, it did not take into account four out of seven criteria of the tender.

Krassimira Stoyanova, Vice President of Saab for Central and Eastern Europe, said on national TV on 23 December that the version of F-16 chosen by Bulgaria does not even exist, and that even the plant where they would be produced doesn’t exist either. She also claimed that the cost for the US planes would be significantly higher than the ceiling required by the tender.

Radev, who was a military pilot and head of the Bulgarian air force before being elected as president in November 2016, has gained prominence in criticising Borissov on many issues. Asked on Sunday to comment the government’s decision to buy F-16, he called the procedure “perverted” and said it was a “triple blow against Bulgaria”.

“I insisted that the [tender] procedure and financial framework be respected, which guarantees the best choice, no matter which aircraft it would be. The government did the opposite – they announced the winner in breach of their own rules and those of the Parliament, and even committed to pay an enormous amount”, Radev said.

He said that all this amounted to a “triple blow”, because of the higher price, but also because of “the blow against our European partners, which the government uses as figurants in the tender”, adding that the blow was also against the US partners, who in his words should realise that Bulgarians know that they won via lobbyism, not according to the rules.

“How can we expect winning the respect of Europe and the world, if we don’t respect our own laws and rules”, Radev asked a rhetoric question.

The defence minister Krassimir Karakachanov was quoted as saying that the cabinet will start negotiations with the US, and if those are not satisfactory, the effort could continue with the next competitor.