Concerted US diplomatic offensive appears to be swaying Bulgaria in favour of American F-16 fighter jets over Swedish Gripens.
Washington is upping the pressure on Bulgaria to secure the sale of F-16 fighter jets to the Balkan country over rival bids from Sweden and Italy.
“The United States is committed to working with the Bulgarian government to tailor the final scope of a potential F-16 sale to fit its budgetary and operational requirements, while still offering superior capabilities,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, according to a press release from December 20.
“The United States looks forward to completing final negotiations with the Bulgarian government,” the press release concluded.
Pompeo’s words follow a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Boyko Borissov on December 18, and a visit by his deputy, John Sullivan, to Bulgaria this week.
The vice-leader of the ruling GERB party and head of the party’s parliamentary group, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, visited the US earlier in December.
They collectively signal that Bulgaria’s political establishment is leaning towards the US-made Lockheed Martin jets – an option clearly preferred by Prime Minister Borissov.
“From what I’ve discussed with pilots, they say F-16 Block 70 are significantly better aircrafts than the others they offer us – the old Eurofighters and the Gripens,” Borissov said on 14 December, adding that he was “not interfering in the [expert] commission’s work”.
In reality, observers say the government, not the expert commission reviewing all three offers, will likely make the final choice on what to replace the country’s ageing Soviet-designed MiG-29s with.
The US and Sweden have emerged as the main contenders to sell Bulgaria fourth generation multi-purpose jet fighters.
Both have ramped up their bids to lure Sofia into choosing their offers, in the fight for a lucrative contract worth 750 million euros.
In October, Sweden’s SAAB, which makes Gripens, said it was ready to partner up with Bulgarian companies for potential “cooperation in the field of security supply”, including aircraft repair companies Avionams and Terem-Letec, thermal vision and night observation devices producer Optix and electronics firm Samel-90.
Lockheed Martin responded by promising that the selection of the latest generation of F-16 jets would “create the potential for young Bulgarian engineers and scientists to become involved in a new generation of unmanned aircraft and other cutting-edge autonomous systems, for both commercial and military use”.
SAAB then raised the stakes further on 14 December by offering 10 jets to Sofia, instead of the initial offer of eight, for the same 750 million euros price.
Although the exact offers of the two companies are not yet public, experts believe the US offer is more expensive than the Swedish one, which may explain why Pompeo mentioned “tailoring… the scope of the sale”.
Defence Minister Krassimir Karakachanov said on 17 December on TV that he believed the US might be ready to negotiate on the price tag.
“It was made clear that if we choose the F-16s for final negotiations, they are ready to improve their offer. We haven’t discussed in detail by how much,” he said.
The US to pushing NATO allies in Eastern Europe to upgrade their underfunded armed forces in the face of a growing challenge from Russia, either by purchasing weapons from the US, or from its close allies.
US officials underscored that Sullivan’s tour of Central Europe and the Western Balkans was designed to shore up support in the region against “Russia’s aggression”.
Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004 but needs to improve its compliance with the alliance’s military standards.
On 12 December, Washington issued a statement saying that it “strongly supports Croatia’s modernization of its defence system, including the purchase of F-16 jets from Israel”.
Earlier in December, Slovakia also chose F-16 Block 70 jets ahead of the Gripen C/D ones.
The Balkaninsight
