https://www.defensenews.com/global/euro ... f-16-jets/ 
Bulgarian President Rumen Radev vetoed a $1.26 billion deal
to buy eight new Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets on Tuesday,
according to a Reuters report.
The veto follows a debate in parliament on Friday
that revealed divisions on the contract terms.
“The commitment of Republic of Bulgaria to obligations,
for years to come, without a national consensus and conviction in the mutually acceptable conditions of the treaty, is extremely worrying,”
Radev said in a statement, according to Reuters.
Bulgaria has been working to acquire fighter jets since 2017 to replace its outdated Soviet-era Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter jets.
They have considered buying
secondhand F-16s from Portugal,
Eurofighter Typhoons from Italy and
Saab JAS Gripens from Sweden.
Negotiations heated up in May
after it looked like Bulgaria would walk away from buying F-16s in exchange for either Typhoons or Gripens.
But in June, the U.S. State Department approved the $1.67 billion sale,
putting the American aircraft back in the running for a deal with Bulgaria.
The Bulgarian Council of Ministers then followed up by approving four draft agreements for the eight F-16s for a total of almost $1.3 billion in July.
However, the agreement had to be approved by the Bulgarian parliament and U.S. Congress.
It’s now unclear what the NATO member will seek to replace its MiG-29 fleet.
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-bulga ... KKCN1UI1MS
July 23, 2019 / 2:58 PM / Updated 18 hours ago
Bulgaria president vetoes $1.26 billion deal for F-16 fighter jets
The $1.26 billion deal would be the country’s biggest military purchase
since the fall of Communism three decades ago.
But Radev, a former air force commander, said the sharp disputes in parliament during the debate on its ratification
showed that public consensus on the contracts had been neither sought nor achieved.
“Because of the shortened legislative procedure,
a number of important issues such as prices, warranties, delivery times, penalties, indemnities, and so on,
have remained unclear,” he said.
“The commitment of the Republic of Bulgaria to obligations, for years to come,
without a national consensus and conviction in the mutually acceptable conditions of the treaty,
is extremely worrying,” Radev said in a statement.
In 2017, an interim government selected the Gripen built by Sweden’s Saab but
the deal was later cancelled and a new procedure was launched a year later.
Radev said it was important that Bulgaria receive
“a full package of equipment, accompanying equipment and personnel training”.
“The public needs a definite answer as to whether this is actually achieved by the contracts.”
The ruling centre-right GERB party defended the contracts and
expressed its readiness for another vote at a parliamentary session on Friday.
Parliament could overrule Radev’s veto with a vote of at least 121 votes in the 240-seat assembly.
“We have a consensus that we need to modernise (Bulgaria’s) armed forces,”
Konstantin Popov, chair of parliamentary defence committee, said.
“The F-16 is a wonderful airplane.”
The Black Sea state, a staunch Washington ally,
is looking to replace its ageing Soviet-made MiG-29 aircraft after 2023 and
improve its compliance with NATO standards.
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