site.btaF-16s to Be Maintained Entirely in Bulgaria, Defence Minister Says

"The rearming of the Bulgarian Air Force with F-16 Block 70 aircraft will facilitate Avionams to implement new technologies for the maintenance of the jets entirely on Bulgarian territory. These aircraft will not have to be taken abroad, which will save costs and will build the requisite capacity of specialists," Bulgarian Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov said here on Monday.

He was speaking at a seminar on "Innovations in the Bulgarian Defence Industry and the Modernization of the Bulgarian Armed Forces," which was held under his auspices and the auspices of Economy and Industry Minister Petko Nikolov.

In early April, the Nikolay Denkov Cabinet ordered the State Consolidation Company to assign to subsidiary Avionams to build basic national capacities for the maintenance of F-16 Block 70. The aircraft repair plant is located in Plovdiv (South Central Bulgaria).

As agreed with the US, Bulgaria expects to have eight F-16s by the end of 2025: three until March 2025, three in the second quarter of 2025, and two by the end of next year.
 
"The programme for building the multi-role patrol vessels for the Bulgarian Navy is positioned even better, as it enables the combat platforms themselves to be built in Bulgaria," Zapryanov said. "The Stryker combat vehicles will be maintained in Bulgaria, and this country may prove to be a hub for the preparation of this type of combat equipment on a regional scale," the caretaker Defence Minister added.

In early September 2023, the US State Department approved a possible sale to Bulgaria of 183 Stryker combat vehicles and related equipment for an estimated cost of USD 1.5 billion. The Defence Ministry has contracted the acquisition of two multi-role patrol ships for the Bulgarian Navy with Germany's Fr. Lurssen Werft GmbH & Co.KG;

"I call for a closer association of the Armed Forces, the Defence Ministry and the Economy Ministry with science, the industrial enterprises, so that Bulgaria's industry could make gradual inroads on the currently emerging European market for ammunition and defence equipment and in the European defence and technological establishment," Zapryanov commented further.

He explained that the Programme for Defence Investments by 2023, adopted by Parliament on April 19, 2024, outlines the area for development of Bulgaria's defence capabilities during that time span and can orientate the defence industry and science about the Defence Ministry's investment intentions. "The programme costs are estimated at some BGN 9 billion, covering the peirod until 2032," the Defence Minister added.