Bulgarian Defense Ministry announced a new tender for the supply of the country's Air Force 16 new or used fighter jets to replace the fleet of obsolete Soviet MiG-29, reports “Warspot” with reference to the foreign media. It should be noted, that last year the Bulgarian Defense Ministry has already conducted a tender for the supply of fighters, during which it announced the acquisition of eight Saab Gripen fighters, but apparently for some reason, the contract has not been finalized, and something went wrong.
Request for proposals directed to seven countries, reported the Ministry of Defense in Bulgaria. Sofia considers the supply of aircraft F-16, F/A-18 Super Hornet, Gust, Gripen and Typhoon from the US, Portugal, Israel, Italy, Germany, France and Sweden. Won the tender country will be required to deliver to Bulgaria 16 fighters in two stages of eight aircraft. The first batch of Bulgarian Defense Ministry is ready to spend $1,08 billion., where in this amount is planned to include the supply of ground-based equipment, a three-year pilot training and logistical support.
Recall, that during last year's tender involving Sweden, US and Portugal, and Italy, Sweden won, which agreed to supply eight new fighters Saab JAS 39 C / D Gripen for about summu 1 billion lev (€ 510 million). Thus the United States and Portugal together suggested supply eight used fighter Lockheed Martin F-16A / B Block 15 for 1,5 billion lev, and Italy – eight used also for Typhoon 1,5 billion lev.
