On Might 1 Bulgaria’s first F-16 Block 70 fighter plane was confirmed to be affected by a essential system deviation, with the invention of this throughout official acceptance checks grounding the plane simply weeks after it arrived from the USA. Nearly instantly after touchdown in Bulgaria on April 2, the fighter encountered a technical problem which halted its entry into energetic service, with Air Power Commander Main Common Nikolay Rusev confirming that the plane couldn’t be accepted into service earlier than the problem was resolved. Presidential Secretary for Defence Dimitar Stoyanov said that the F-16 was non-operational attributable to a broken element, with the required alternative half being unavailable. Studies on the state of the plane have diverse. Points with the F-16 have triggered a serious scandal in Bulgaria, with former Prime Minister and chief of the ruling GERB occasion Boyko Borisov reported to have knowledgeable journalists that the fighter was “damaged and might’t fly… How may we obtain a damaged plane for $100 million?” The contract for eight F-16 Block 70 fighters was signed in July 2019 for $1.26 billion, inserting the common value at $157.5 million per fighter together with accompanying weaponry, spare components and upkeep infrastructure.
The procurement of the F-16 Block 70 is meant to facilitate a phasing out of Soviet MiG-29A/UB fighters from service, with the brand new F-16 variant being by far probably the most succesful ever produced. The fighter class advantages from an enhanced variant of the Chilly Conflict period F110 engine, the F110-GE-129, in addition to a excessive composite airframe that reduces upkeep wants, and an AN/APG-83 AESA that revolutionises the category’ situational consciousness. At a time when international locations throughout NATO are adopting the fifth technology F-35A as their major fighter, the F-16 Block 70 is taken into account a way more inexpensive selection attributable to its far decrease operational prices. The fighter’s considerably decrease upkeep wants enable the plane to be made accessible for fight at a lot increased charges than the notoriously upkeep intensive F-35, though its fight potential is considerably decrease attributable to its much less superior avionics, lack of stealth capabilities and far smaller radar. The U.S. Air Power itself stopped procuring F-16s in 2005, with the fighter more and more thought of out of date and seeing no gross sales to purchasers with the developed economies. The only exception has been the Republic of China Air Power, which regardless of a sizeable funds has been unable to obtain F-35s for political causes, main it to position an $8.2 billion order for 66 F-16 Block 70 fighters in 2019.
