Additional order for Bulgarian Air Force F-16 fighters
On 4 April 2022, the US State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to the Government of Bulgaria of eight Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 Fighting Falcons and related equipment valued at USD 1,7 billion.
The Bulgarian government requested to buy four F-16C Block 70 and four F-16D Block 70 fighters plus related equipment like spare engines, missiles, bombs and Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars.
In August 2021, Scramble Magazine wrote that the Bulgarian Ministry of Defence requested for this second batch of eight F-16 Block 70 fighters for the Bulgarski Voenno Vzdushni Sili (BVVS, Bulgarian Air Force).
In 2019, Bulgaria signed up for the first batch of eight F-16 fighters. In April 2020, Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract for the construction of this first batch. Althought not specified in the April 2020 contract, Scramble Magazine assesses that the first order consists of six F-16C and two F-16D models. So in total, the BVVS will receive ten F-16C and six F-16D fighters.
Image by Lockheed Martin