July 9 (SeeNews) - The completion of the infrastructure works at Bulgaria's Graf Ignatievo military airbase in preparation for the delivery of F-16 fighter jets could be delayed by six to eight months, defence minister Georgi Panayotov said.
Over 184 million leva ($111.6 million/94.1 million euro) have been spent on contracts with construction companies for the works at the base, Panayotov told a news conference on Thursday, as quoted by the defence ministry.
A total of 44 contracts were concluded and, according to schedule, construction activities had to be launched already. However, works are being carried out on three contracts only, as the rest are at the stage of conceptual design, Panayotov added.
"Currently, we are working to provide 53 million levs for the construction of the runway as this money was not planned in the initial project," the defence minister also said.
In August 2020, the government allocated 100 million levs to the defence ministry, to be used to set up infrastructure needed for multirole fighter aircraft takeoffs and landings, following the signing of a deal for the purchase of new F-16 Block 70 fighter jets.
A year earlier, Bulgaria's defence ministry said it has transferred to the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) in full the agreed sum of $1.2 billion for the delivery of eight F-16 Block 70 fighters manufactured by US aerospace and defence company Lockheed Martin, along with the related equipment and weapons.
Earlier in 2019, Lockheed Martin said that it could deliver the first jet fighter to Bulgaria by the end of 2022.
The deal envisages the delivery of six single-seat F-16 jets and two two-seat aircraft used for training, as well as supply of weapons for the jets, Sidewinder AIM 9Х Block II missiles, and a multifunctional information distribution system joint tactical radio system (MIDS JTRS).
In April 2020, the US defence department said that Lockheed Martin can start manufacturing eight F-16 Block 70 fighter jets for Bulgaria after it has been awarded a $512 million firm-fixed-price contract. The production of all eight fighter jets is expected to be completed by January 31, 2027, the US Department of Defence said at the time.
(1 euro=1.95583 Bulgarian levs)