Bulgaria's first F-16 makes maiden flight

The first of 16 F-16 Block 70 aircraft for Bulgaria departs Lockheed Martin's Greenville production facility for its maiden flight. (Bulgarian MoD)

Lockheed Martin has flown the first F-16 Block 70 Fighting Falcon aircraft for Bulgaria at its Greenville facility in South Carolina.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced the milestone, which happened on 22 October. During the event, a single-seat F-16C performed a series of flight characteristic tests before returning to the facility.

News of the milestone came 10 months after the build of aircraft MY-01 began at Greenville in January. It is scheduled to be delivered to Bulgaria in 2025.

Bulgaria has eight F-16C/D Block 70 aircraft under an initial contract, with a follow-on contract for eight more with deliveries to commence from 2027. These 16 aircraft will equip the Bulgarian Air Force (BuAF) with a full squadron. Pilot and maintainer training has been taking place in the United States on two gifted Excess Defense Articles F-16Ds.

As the most up-to-date version of the Fighting Falcon, the F-16 Block 70 features the General Electric F100-GE-129D engine (the Block 72 is fitted with the Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229EEP engine, while the F-16V designation denotes a remanufactured airframe that has been brought to the same standard). The Block 70/72 is equipped with the Northrop Grumman AN/APG-83 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar (derived from the F-16E/F Block 60 AN/APG-80 and is also known as the Scalable Agile Beam Radar), a new Raytheon mission computer, the Link 16 datalink, modern cockpit displays, an enhanced electronic warfare system, and a ground collision avoidance system.