SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgaria’s parliament approved the government’s plan to start talks with the United States on buying eight new F-16 fighter jets to replace its aging Soviet-made MiG-29s and improve compliance with NATO standards.

A deal for Lockheed Martin’s F-16V Block 70 would be worth around 1.8 billion levs ($1.05 billion), Bulgaria’s biggest military procurement since the fall of Communist rule some 30 years ago.

Other bidders had included Sweden, with Saab’s Gripen jets, and Italy, with second-hand Eurofighters.

Defence Minister Krasimir Karakachanov, who has conceded that the United States’ bid exceeded the budget by 300 million levs, said that negotiations would last about four months, with the first meeting expected in Brussels next month.

“From now on there are many issues that we need to clarify – delivery dates, service… spare parts delivery,” Karakachanov said.

The question of which warplanes to buy has been vexing successive governments in Bulgaria for more than a decade.

Reuters

Photo Rob Vogelaar