The Americans cited the epidemic, but they likely did not send F-16s to Bulgaria because they did not trust it.
Americans delay delivery of new F-16s due to distrust of buttercup authorities at an international conference Two former Bulgarian defense ministers.
Kirill Petkov, Bulgarian Prime Minister, on February 12 announceThe delivery of eight US F-16s was two years late. The first planes were due to arrive in Bulgaria in 2023 and the last in 2024, but the US is making clear that deliveries will not begin until 2025 due to supply disruptions due to the coronary epidemic.
The refurbished F-16s will receive a significant part of the F-35’s radar system, with new control systems installed to assist in targeting, for example, and avoiding collisions with the ground.
However, according to former Bulgarian interim Defense Minister Velizar Shalamanov, it may be more than that
Americans don’t trust us
Because the Bulgarians are still not able to fully guarantee the security of the technologies.
He explained that Chalmanov has been working with NATO for ten years and knows that they will work on a study for a period of six to eight months to give them access to confidential information.
But in Bulgaria, five working days are enough,
someone to get permission.
The example of the former minister was the case of Dilian Bevsky, a billionaire oligarch and media mogul who, despite corruption scandals, managed to smoothly take over the head of the National Security Agency in 2013. Then tens of thousands protested in Bulgaria against his appointment.
Todor Tagarev, who also served as Minister of Defense, says that as long as representatives of Russian companies are allowed into the Graf Ignativo military airfield to service MiG-29s, the Americans will not trust them.
“We also need to make sure that base personnel
Don’t drink vodka with the Russians later.”
he added.
open image: Military_Material / Pixabay
