The US has refused to provide Bulgaria with used F-16s, and Sweden - used “Gripen“. And we continue to pursue every opportunity to divert aircraft that could otherwise reach Ukraine. As we did with the clumsy attempt to divert Polish moments from delivery to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the delivery of the second batch of F-16s is being delayed again.
Let's now answer a simple question: how exactly will we impress the US so that they do not delay the second batch of F-16s even further, after the Bezmer trick? Which of the Bulgarian statesmen can use their influence in Washington to resolve this issue?
Sweden concluded a strategic agreement with Ukraine and only then did we think of looking for used “Gripen“. And when the US and Sweden refuse us, we start wondering where to get aircraft from, but in such a way that there is no solution to continue maintaining the MiG-29.
This is no longer just a problem with a specific delivery. This is the result of 15 years of failed policy to rearm the Bulgarian combat aviation.
Here too, the main political responsibility lies with Rumen Radev — first as commander of the Air Force, then as president, and now as prime minister. He is the person who has been at the top of the system the longest and who has failed to modernize the Air Force.
Even when Radev himself warned in 2022 that the delay in the F-16 would increase the “void“ after the discontinuation of the MiG-29, the decision for the second batch was ultimately made precisely by the caretaker government that he appointed.
The result today is absurd: we have new F-16s, but we are still forced to look for ways to extend the life of the Soviet MiG-29s.
And our neighbors have long solved this problem — Romania, Turkey, Greece, even Serbia made a choice and built a path to a new generation of combat aircraft.
We didn't.
And now, instead of asking ourselves why we got here, we are chasing used aircraft from here and there — including ones that could potentially be provided to Ukraine.
It wasn't you or I who created this problem.
We are talking about 15 years during which Bulgaria failed to make the final transition from Soviet to NATO combat aircraft, because of the man who was president for nine years and is now prime minister.