January 9, 2019 | International, Aerospace
Angel Krasimirov, Tsvetelia Tsolova
SOFIA (Reuters) - The Bulgarian government has approved a plan to start talks with the United States on buying eight new F-16 fighter jets to replace its ageing Soviet-made MiG-29s and improve compliance with NATO standards, the defense minister said on Wednesday.
A deal for Lockheed Martin's F-16V Block 70 would be worth around 1.8 billion levs ($1.1 billion), Bulgaria's biggest military procurement since the fall of Communist rule some 30 years ago.
The decision still requires parliament's approval.
Other bidders had included Sweden, with Saab's Gripen jets, and Italy, with second-hand Eurofighters.
Senior defense ministry and army officials say the F-16 is a multi-role fighter plane that had been tested in battle and had a long lifespan.
The defense ministry has previously said that the United States does not need additional licenses and agreements to supply the war plans with the necessary weaponry and licenses, unlike the offers from Sweden and Italy.
“The government is proposing to the parliament to allow it to start talks with the United States to acquire new war planes,” Defense Minister Krasimir Karakachanov told reporters.
The center-right coalition government has a thin majority in parliament, which is expected to vote on the move next week.
The plan has spurred heated political debates in the Black Sea country with supporters hailing it as a strategic choice for Bulgaria, whose NATO neighbors are also flying F-16s, while critics accused the government of breaching the tender rules.
On Tuesday, the White House said the United States was ready to work with the government to tailor a deal that will fit Bulgaria's budgetary and operational requirements. Its bid at present exceeds the tender's estimated limit, officials said.
“We believe that the F-16 Block 70 offers Bulgaria the best possible combination of price, capability and interoperability with other NATO air forces,” U.S. President Donald Trump's administration said in a statement.
Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, a former air force commander and frequent critic of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, is believed to favor the Swedish bid and has criticized the process as flawed and “a triumph of lobbying”.
Critics have questioned whether the United States can deliver the first two F-16 jets within two years as required and pointed to a U.S. proposal for a one-off payment upon contracting rather than offering a long-term payment scheme as preferred in the tender.
Sweden has expressed its disappointment over the decision and said its offer was well below the estimated budget, provided for deferred payment and was ready to deliver on time.
The question of which warplanes to buy has been vexing successive governments in Bulgaria for more than a decade.
Borissov's government re-launched the tender in July, after a parliament commission ruled that a previous process which favored the Gripen jets, should be reviewed.
($1 = 1.7057 leva)
Editing by Kevin Liffey and Susan Fenton
June 13, 2023 | International, Other Defence
A British-led defence alliance of several European countries will strengthen its sharing of tactical intelligence, the group, known as the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), said on Tuesday.
September 14, 2020 | International, Aerospace
By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army's Future Vertical Lift program is getting “significant” levels of attention from militaries around the globe, eight of which have already sent letters of interest to the service, the head of the FVL program said Sept. 10. “We're working with multiple international partners on bilateral agreements ... and we're pursuing those letters of interest,” Brig. Gen. Wally Rugen, director of the Army's Future Vertical Lift Cross-Functional Team, said during a panel at the Defense News Conference. Rugen declined to comment on what nations have expressed interest in the program but said that the Army has remained engaged with those countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We've done a number of virtual meetings with our partners to keep the momentum up during COVID, and we have very good planning on our 2021 engagements going forward,” he said. “The exportability, interoperability and the cooperation is being studied deeply. [We're] talking about [liaison officers] coming into the FVL office.” The Army intends to develop and field two rotorcraft in the early 2030s as part of the FVL program: future attack reconnaissance aircraft, which will take over the reconnaissance mission currently performed by a mix of the AH-64 Apache helicopter and RQ-7 Shadow drone; and the future long-range attack aircraft, which will replace the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. Both are on budget and on schedule, Rugen said. The service recently awarded 10 contracts worth a total of $29.75 million to companies that will develop a series of “air-launched effects” for its future vertical lift aircraft, which could include sensors, mesh networking technologies and other payloads. Future contracts for air-launched effects could present sales opportunities for foreign defense contractors, Rugen said during the panel. “There's a lot of opportunity for our international partners in this space. I think it's very wide open. And the reason it's so wide open is” is that such technologies are “affordable and effective,” he said. In addition to the effort focused on air-launched effects, the Army is in the middle of multiple future tactical UAV demonstrations, which will ultimately pave the way for a replacement of the Shadow drone. Soldiers are assessing the four candidate systems through a series of field tests and exercises: the V-Bat system offered by Martin UAV and Northrop Grumman; Textron's Aerosonde HQ; the Arcturus UAV JUMP 20; and L3Harris' FVR-90. “The soldiers are extremely excited but giving us good feedback,” Rugen said. “They're not being easy on us [on] what to fix, what to do different. And that's the kind of data and information that's going to give us just a rock-solid requirement that we can move out on and get this into units where it's militarized, ruggedized and ready to go.” https://www.defensenews.com/smr/defense-news-conference/2020/09/10/international-militaries-are-keeping-an-eye-on-the-us-armys-future-vertical-lift-program/
February 6, 2024 | International, Land
The AT4 is a man-portable weapon used for the protection of vital assets, fixed defence installations and key supply points.