The country’s government announced recently that they recommended replacing its existing air fleet of MiG-29s with jets by Lockheed Martin. They picked them over a bid by Sweden with its newly-made Gripens and Italy’s used Eurofighters, despite exceeding the planned budget.
President Rumen Radev has strongly criticised the tender process, which resulted in the recommendation to negotiate with the US to purchase F-16 fighters for the Bulgarian Air Force.