First Bulgarian F-16 arrives in country

The first of 16 Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 Fighting Falcon combat aircraft for Bulgaria was delivered to Graf Ignatievo Air Base near Plovdiv on 2 April 2025. (Bulgarian MoD)

The first of 16 Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 Fighting Falcon combat aircraft for Bulgaria has been delivered to the eastern European NATO country, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced.

A single F-16D twin-seat operational trainer with tail number 301 was flown from the Greenville production facility in South Carolina on 31 March, arriving in the Bulgarian Air Force's (BuAF's) 3 Fighter Air Base at Graf Ignatievo near Plovdiv on 2 April. For the trans-Atlantic ferry flight, which included new F-16s being delivered to Slovakia, the aircraft had US national markings.

The arrival in Graf Ignatievo took place in the presence of Prime Minister Rossen Jeliazkov, Minister of Defence Atanas Zapryanov, Chief of Defence Admiral Emil Eftimov, and Susan Falatko, charge d'affaires at the US Embassy in Bulgaria.

“For the air force, this means a new era in their development. There is a future for our combat aviation from the air force, because they already have a new type of aircraft, which will be in operation in the next 30–40 years. And this, I am convinced, will motivate the personnel to carry out the service with a much greater desire and with great prospects,” Zapryanov said.

The milestone happened weeks after Bulgaria took formal ownership of this F-16D and a single-seat F-16C at Greenville on 31 January, and five months after the F-16C performed its maiden flight out of the same production facility on 22 October 2024. This F-16C is now being used as a US-based training aircraft for air and ground crews.