Bulgaria's President: Buying New Fighter Jets Urgent

Bulgarian President and commander-in-chief Rosen Plevneliev at the Military Aviation Confenrece in Sofia Wednesday. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria needs to modernize its air force urgently in order to guarantee its national security and alliance commitments, according to President Rosen Plevneliev.

The President, who is by Constitution, the commander-in-chief of the Bulgarian armed forces, spoke at a Military Aviation Conference in Sofia dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Bulgarian Air Force.

Plevneliev noted several major requirements for the Bulgarian armed forces in light of the national security and the fruitful membership of the country in NATO, the first one being interoperability with the other members of the Alliance.

He stressed the Bulgarian Defense Ministry should make its public procurement tenders as transparent as possible, and should cooperate with military experts, NGOs, and aviation organizations.

The second major requirement the President mention is Bulgaria's budgetary constraints, meaning that it should get the best-value offers.

"We are certainly going to apply this approach in the tender for the purchase of new multi-purpose fighter jets," Plevneliev said, referring to the delayed deal for buying new jets for the Bulgarian Air Force.

"The main thing is that Bulgaria must generate security in the region, in the EU, and NATO," he stated.

In his words, Bulgaria has great opportunities and experience when it comes to aviation engineering, and aircraft repairs, which he linked to the possibility of creating intelligent defense in Southeast Europe.

"The creation of joint companies for engineering and repairs of aircraft of Bulgarian and foreign companies will be the basis for realizing the intelligent defense concept," the President declared, arguing that Bulgaria must keep up the work on renovating logistics and airport complexes.

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