February 7 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria expects to receive by February 15 final offers for the provision of fighter jets that would temporarily replace Bulgaria's ageing fleet of Soviet-made MiG-29s until the new F-16 combat aircraft contracted from the US are deployed, the defence ministry said.
Talks on potential offers for replacement combat aircraft for the Bulgarian Air Force are ongoing with Sweden, France and Israel, the defence ministry said in a statement on Monday.
Late last year, Bulgaria sought offers for fighter planes to fly until the new F-16s enter service, which is not expected before 2027-2028.
In parallel, the caretaker government is working to ensure the airworthiness of the MiG-29 fighters, with two more options being considered in addition to a deal with Poland. Two replacement engines for the MiG-29s contracted from Poland have not been delivered due to changes in the terms of the contract for one of them, according to interim defence minister Dimitar Stoyanov.
The defence ministry also said that as part of a programme to upgrade air and land defence capabilities and communications systems, it has so far launched a request for proposals (RFP) for the provision of 3D radar systems and has prepared an RFP for the purchase of armoured vehicles for the army. In addition, it has put together requests for information from potential suppliers for the acquisition of anti-aircraft missile systems and artillery weapons.
Before being dissolved last week ahead of the upcoming snap vote in April, Bulgaria's parliament failed to adopt a cabinet-approved defence expenditure programme of 13 priority projects for defence capabilities upgrades worth 6.6 billion levs ($3.6 billion/3.37 billion euro) in total, the ministry noted. Parliament has, however, passed a decision stipulating that weapons and military equipment under a defence upgrade programme to 2032 must be purchased from EU and NATO member states only. This requirement restricts possibilities for negotiations on deals with countries such as Israel or Switzerland, Stoyanov noted.
In 2019, Bulgaria approached four manufacturers - Finland's Patria, General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS)-MOWAG, Germany's Artec and France's Nexter Group, looking to buy 150 armoured vehicles for the army for an estimated 1.46 billion levs.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)