Bulgaria will receive the first eight of the contracted sixteen F-16 Block 70 aircraft next year, caretaker Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov announced in Dolna Mitropolia. Two aircraft will arrive at the end of March and the remaining six at the end of September.

The minister said he hoped that by the time the first eight F-16s are delivered, the Bulgarian Army would have trained pilots to fly the fighter jets.

"We should be ready to start training people for the F-16s. All the pilots who are to be part of the programme are in training," Atanas Zapryanov was quoted as saying. He also stressed the importance of infrastructure, which he described as a major challenge.

The Minister of War visited the Georgi Benkovski Air Force Academy, where an augmented virtual reality system was inaugurated, enabling full-scale study of the F-16 Block 70 aircraft.