Bulgaria will be able to buy up to eight F-16s.
Bulgaria decided to strengthen their defenses. To do this, the country will buy 8 new generation F-16 fighters from the United States in the amount of $1.673 billion.
U.S. officials said the sale was not related to Russia's war against Ukraine. Bulgaria has long been trying to modernize its air force. Two years ago, the country announced the first batch of F-16 aircraft, which it was supposed to buy. The current agreements are already the second stage of the modernization of the Bulgarian Air Force.
The new batch will not arrive in Bulgaria soon, because these are the latest aircraft, and they will be ready only in three to four years.
Bulgaria can provide aircraft to Ukraine
The Bulgarian Air Force uses Su-25 and MiG-29 aircraft, as does Ukraine. After the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian authorities turned to Bulgaria, among other things, with a request to provide these aircraft for defense. After all, Ukrainian pilots are familiar with this technique, and there was no need to waste time on retraining.
But Bulgaria did not provide its aircraft. The country requested that the United States provide it with its aircraft to replace it, so as not to weaken the defense of its country. But this was never done.