The holiday (tomorrow's May 6 - the day of bravery and the holiday of the Bulgarian Army - b. r.) was overshadowed by the unpleasant arguments about the serviceability of the first Bulgarian F-16 Block 70 fighter jet that arrived. He said this on the program "From the Day" on BNT, former Minister of Defense Boyko Noev, quoted by novini.bg.
It is not good to once again unleash squabbles in the field of national security. Politicians should refrain from inciting tension in the sphere, as much as possible. An insignificant problem is being politicized, he said.
In our country, it turned out that the entire process of modernization of the army turned into a painful process, starting with people and moving on to the various weapons systems. Aviation, as a special type of armed forces, was the focus of public attention. That's how it started and this problem has been going on for 7 years now. The pressure on the issue led to distortions, the former Minister of Defense added.
The issue of the lobbies surrounding rearmament arose largely from the fact that the way in which the modernization began did not provide an answer to the question of the fate of the pilots who have served in our combat aviation for many years, after the new aircraft arrived. These things were dramatized to a great extent and the leadership of the Ministry of Defense cannot resolve these things to this day. Many of the leaders become susceptible to suggestions and fall victim to certain lobbies, Boyko Noev pointed out.
He assured that the F-16 Block 70 is an extremely modern aircraft that can serve the Bulgarian Army for many years.
In response to a question about whether in the case of the fighter's serviceability, a technical problem had become a drama, Noev noted: "Several groups of people turned it into such a problem. The same is true with the euro, and with many other important topics in our society. Therefore, responsible politicians in our country should not slide along this plane".
Not to mention that there were two ceremonies to welcome the fighter jet. This puts us in the position of a frivolous state. The fact that at one of the ceremonies there was also a person sanctioned for serious corruption by the USA (former Minister of Finance Vladislav Goranov - b. r.), the state that produced the aircraft, commented the former Minister of Defense.
Minister Zapryanov cannot lead the modernization of the army, modernization requires new, young and energetic people who do not obey political whims and do not invite to the forefront those sanctioned under the "Magnitsky". The new leaders must change the attitude towards the modernization of our armed forces, Boyko Noev also said.