Bulgarian Air Force

I hope they will offer better terms because, from my talks with pilots, a new F16 is a much better plane than all the others that are offered. There are committees examining these offers. I am in no way intervening, I strongly emphasise, except that I want our aviation to have the best plane because the situation in the region is getting complicated.

The Atlantic Council of Bulgaria has issued an opinion stating our country should purchase the U.S. F-16 as a new type of fighter for the Bulgarian Air Force, and adding that the government should adhere to the common practice in NATO member states - to acquire the average number of 16 aircraft per squadron, not as planned in two times of 8, learned BulgarianMilitary.com.

SOFIA, Bulgaria (BulgarianMilitary.com), 19 September 2018, Editor: Stanislava Georgieva, 

Bulgaria's Ministry of Defense (MoD) has announced a tender for Russian and Belarusian state-owned companies to overhaul its Su-25 close air support aircraft, marking the latest in a decade's worth of false starts and reversals plaguing Bulgaria's efforts to replace aging Communist-era equipment.

Israel is in the running to replace Bulgaria's aging MiG-29s after Sofia gave the green light to replace its Soviet-designed jets.

Bulgaria's parliament approved the plan to buy the jets in June in order to improve its compliance with NATO standards - which it joined in 2004 - in a 3.5 billion leva (NIS 7.4 billion) military modernization project.

On 30 July, the Bulgarian Ministry of Defence published a tender for the general overhaul of two Mi-17 transport and four Mi-24V combat helicopters of the Bulgarian Air Force (BuAF). The deadline for submission of bids is 3 September, with a framework agreement covering a period of 48 months to be signed with the successful bidder.