Bulgaria to receive eight F-16 fighter jets in 2025

In 2025, Bulgaria will receive 8 American F-16 fighter jets from the USA, Admiral Emil Eftimov, Chief of Defence of Bulgaria, told BNT breakfast show on January 16.

"We saw the planes in South Carolina, they are in various stages of completion. It was a timely decision to pay for the second batch of eight new F-16 aircraft. If we had postponed the request, things would have been delayed and we would have received them after 2030, as there is a large demand for these aircraft," he said.

"Training of pilots is going as per contract. We will have 16 planes and 32 pilots trained in the US using the methodology used by the US Air Force. 84 engineering staff will be trained in the US. We will create a foundation. It is important how to turn this resource into a working defence capability, we will use the US experience. This is a consistent effort at all levels," Admiral Eftimov added.

He recalled the decision of the NATO summit in Warsaw in 2016 - the deployment of multinational battle groups to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland was launched, mainly because of the threat from Russia after the annexation of Crimea. After the start of the war in Ukraine, discussions began about improving the infrastructure of NATO's Eastern flank - a very complex logistical process.

Admiral Eftimov also reported that Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey have so far destroyed more than 12 mines in the Black Sea.

Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey signed Black Sea demining agreement

At this stage there is no decision for participation of Bulgarian officers in the Red Sea operation, the admiral said.

The situation in the Red Sea: What is happening to the sailors on the seized ships?

The Chief of Defence also commented that the key to the successful return of the Bulgarians from the seized ships in the Red Sea is discreetness and diplomacy. Eftimov said that even before the cases of the Galaxy Leader and the Ruen ship, our country had an invitation from the so-called United States Naval Forces to join this operation.