Bulgaria receives first Block 70 F-16D
April 4, 2025
The delivery took place some weeks after this aircraft (F-16D 301) and a single-seat F-16C (311) were formally handed over at Greenville on 31 January. The F-16C had made its maiden flight there on 22 October 2024. The F-16C is now temporarily being used as a ground instructional training aircraft for air and ground crews.
The aircraft left the Greenville production facility on 31 March, in company with a pair of aircraft destined for Slovakia. A Tennessee Air National Guard KC-135 Stratotanker provided AAR support en route. Appropriately, the Tennessee National Guard is Bulgaria’s partner in the ANG State Partnership Programme. The F-16D finally arrived at the Bulgarian Air Force’s 3rd Fighter Air Base at Graf Ignatievo near Plovdiv on 2 April, still wearing US national ‘ferry’ markings.
The new aircraft was greeted by Prime Minister Rossen Jeliazkov, Minister of Defence Atanas Zapryanov, Chief of Defence Admiral Emil Eftimov, and Susan Falatko, charge d’affaires at the US Embassy in Bulgaria.
Zapryanov welcomed the delivery, saying that: “For the air force, this means a new era in their development. There is a future for our combat aviation from the air force, because they already have a new type of aircraft, which will be in operation in the next 30–40 years. And this, I am convinced, will motivate the personnel to carry out the service with a much greater desire and with great prospects.”
Bulgaria’s attempts to acquire the F-16 began in 2005, when the Bulgarian government began its search for a new fighter aircraft to replace the ageing MiG-21/23 fleet. New and second-hand aircraft were considered, with Lockheed-Martin offering new build Block 50s while the Belgian government offered second-hand F-16MLUs. The F-16 was examined again in 2016, and finally, in July 2019, the Bulgarian government signed a US $1.3 billion agreement for the delivery of eight new-build Block 70 F-16s, six single-seat F-16Cs and two two-seat F-16Ds.
On 20 August 2021, the Bulgarian Defence Minister said that a Letter of Request (LOR) for a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LoA) for a second batch of eight further Block 70s had been released. This batch was to consist of four single-seat F-16Cs and four two-seat F-16Ds.
Deliveries were originally scheduled for 2023, but COVID-19 related delays put back planned tmelines. All are expected to be delivered by 2027.
The first batch of F-16s will replace 11 ageing Soviet-made MiG-29A ‘Fulcrum-A’ fighters and three MiG-29UB ‘Fulcrum-B’ trainers. The second batch will supplant five Su-25K single-seaters and one Su-25UBK trainer.
