What aircraft is the Bulgarian Air Force getting for BGN 1.5 billion?

Bulgaria has finally triggered the procedure for the purchase of multirole fighter aircraft for the Bulgarian Air Forces after 1.5 billion was allocated for this purpose. This amount is intended for the purchase of eight combat vehicles, and with more financial resources the Bulgarian politicians will consider an increase in this number. Basically, Bulgaria’s Defense Ministry wants to acquire 16 fighter planes, as this will be implemented in two stages. The first is to be implemented between 2018 and 2021, for which the above 1.5 billion was granted. The second stage is to take place in 2022 – 2023. We should point out that this 1.5 billion includes not only the aircraft but also the weapons for them, equipment for the servicing of the aircraft, equipment for training, systems for planning and analysis of missions, training of flight crews and technical staff, etc.

On December 9, the Ministry of Defense sent an RfP (Request for Proposal) to the potential “short-listed” aircraft suppliers of the Bulgarian Air Forces. The request was sent to the embassies of Italy, Portugal, the USA and Sweden.

The countries have six months to prepare and submit their offers to Sofia. The 200-odd page document sent to them contains all technical, operational, financial and legal aspects and requirements for the new fighter. Once the offers are received in Sofia, a committee will evaluate the documents and rank them. This process will probably last a couple of months. After the winner is selected, we will begin negotiations to determine the parameters of the final contract. Once the contract goes through the Council of Ministers and the National Assembly, it enters into force and its implementation can begin. Optimists find all this can be completed by the end of 2017, but 2018 is more realistic.

Portugal has emerged as an early favorite. They are offering multirole F-16 fighters to be modernized to the MLU standard. What’s actually going to happen is that the F-16A / B block 15 vehicles will be "defrosted" and repaired and upgraded in the designated Portuguese factory OGMA. The logistics package will be new, delivered by the United States the same way it was done in Romania.

Without ignoring Italy and Sweden’s offers, the Portuguese “affair" seems to be attracting the most interest... and raising questions.

Going back home...the decision, approved by the Council of Ministers and the National Assembly, includes one Table №3, "Basic and mandatory requirements for the analysis and compliance of project implementation options". The somewhat ambiguous item 2 states: "The type of aircraft must be in operation at the present time and at the time of conclusion of the contract of acquisition." This is not very clear – we have established that the "type of aircraft" must be in operation. The question is, hypothetically, if I had to choose between a “parked” US plane or the aircraft in service produced by country X, which one would be best?

Item 6 is also important: "Delivery within 3 years of signing the contract."

In 2011, Sofia made a request for information to producers about opportunities to purchase new F-16s Block 50/52, Gripen C / D, F / F-18E / F Super Hornet and Eurofighter.

They sent us their approximate prices for the purchase of eight fighters (two double and six single-seater), training, logistics for five years and ground equipment. Prices then were as follows: F-16 - USD 1.3 billion, Gripen - EUR 450 million, Super Hornet - USD 1.85 bln. The cost of eight new Eurofighters was roughly the same as that of the Super Hornet. Only ... only it should not be forgotten that the costs do not end with the purchase of the aircraft. What about armament? An air-to-air AIM-120C AMRAAM missile costs about USD 1 million. We would also need target-indicating and intelligence systems (pods). We’ll need ground simulators for pilot training and other equipment to support these processes. Are we forgetting something? Yes, we need modernization of ground infrastructure. All these ancillary costs, regardless of the model, could easily exceed USD 200-250 million.

However, work on the purchase of new combat aircraft upped its tempo this year. On May 26, the parliamentary defence and finance committees voted in favor of the project. In Parliament 123 MPs voted "for" the purchase of new fighter aircraft for the Air Force, 29 "against", and four abstained.

Eventually it came to sending Requests for Proposal (RFP) to potential suppliers. These requests involved used F-16s from Portugal with a logistics package from the US, used Eurofighter Tranche 1 from Italy and new Gripen C / D from Sweden.

Somehow our politicians are ignoring offset, i.e. industrial partnership. The option of indirect offset stumbles and staggers in European regulations.

Replacement of the fleet was a strategic decision, as cliched as that may sound, because politicians overuse the term.

The "best" thing is that the type and number of aircraft to be bought have remained secret. Only the amount that taxpayers will pay for this "secret" is publicly known.

And this "secret" has extended to Israel’s proposal. The Promised Land has offered to sell us F-16 fighters that are in service. Do not forget that this country is the biggest user of this type of fighters after the United States. There is another element - Israel solely produces the wings, tails stabilizers (vertical fins) and conformal fuel tanks for the F-16s.

The Portuguese offer, on the other hand, is shrouded in mist. What we do know is that the Portuguese F-16s do not fly. These are “parked” planes that don’t get upgraded. They have not been in service for at least several years. What about the engines?! If Bulgaria buys these planes, our country will get on a costly rollercoaster: buy planes, then look for engines, then find premises where to install them…

The advantages of buying Israeli F-16s:

Five years ago, the Israeli Air Force carried out full modernization of its fleet. This meant unifying the capabilities of all aircraft, regardless of whether a given plane was produced five or ten years ago – if they are in service, they must have the same capabilities: electronics, navigation, avionics; everything has been upgraded and is.

As fighter planes probably need to strike the enemy, the issue of the weapons on board stands. Again, the Portuguese fail to hit the mark. First of all, Portuguese F-16s are not multirole aircraft; at the present they can execute only air-to-air tasks. Is this what Bulgaria needs? To become multirole, they need to undergo another upgrade and no one knows how much it would cost us.

Meanwhile, Israeli F-16s are fully multirole, featuring attacking capabilities of surface and air targets, reconnaissance and surveillance. Their infrastructure is fully independent, while the Portuguese planes only carry American weapons. Israeli fighters can carry American or Israeli armament. It is even possible to integrate some armaments of Russian MiG 29s if we have such in stock.

Israel’s offer includes spare parts and armament for a period as required by the Bulgarian Air Force. They want to found an academy in Bulgaria to train pilots and ground staff. This would give our country an opportunity to train other allied countries’ pilots and personnel to operate these fighters. Jerusalem is ready to exchange know-how, i.e. the project would also include the state-owned Terem’s factories, where specialists would have the opportunity not only to repair, but also carry out structural overhaul of the planes. This is a service we could offer to other countries.

According to industry experts, Israel’s offer would be well below our budget. The Portuguese "falcon" would hardly be able to compete with Israel on this. The European planes need to be upgraded. Why would Israel’s product come cheaper? Because it’s one thing to modernize 265 F-16 fighters (the number operated by the Israeli Air Force), which they’ve done and quite another to upgrade a "boutique" order of max. 16 "Bulgarian" F-16s.

Israel is offering us the F-16C / D Barak with "Premium" platform with many options and features similar or equivalent to the F-16 Block 50/52.

Representatives of the Bulgarian Air Force were invited to visit the air base to see the aircraft being offered. So far no answer from Sofia.

Bulgaria’s actions have been strange so far, to put it mildly. Sofia has "politely" explained that we cannot invite Israel to participate in the tender because, according to Parliament’s decree, it is not on the short list of countries, in whose planes we are interested. Here is the question: Why didn’t Parliament reconsider its decision and invite Israel after comparing its offer with those of the three “shortlisted” countries? Moreover, the list is based on data from 2011, clearly not relevant in 2016?!

There are still some important details to clarify. If “Gripen” can deliver the first planes by 2021, "Lockheed Martin" also aims at meeting this deadline - end 2020 - early 2021. If the contract with Israel is signed in 2017, the "hawks" - not just 8, even 16 of them - could be at Bulgarian airports by 2018.

Based on professional assessments, Israeli F-16s have a resource of about 3,000 hours. Compare that to the base load of our Air Force - 90-100-120 hours per year – and the calculations are made easy.

Moreover, Israel is offering an encrypted communication system. NATO aircraft are equipped with Link 16 to be recognized. But with this communication system only, our pilots can be tapped by any ally. Israeli planes are equipped with a secret communication system. Our fighters can communicate only amongst themselves.

It’s still unclear why Bulgaria doesn’t want the Israeli planes. We keep talking about NATO and EU countries, from which to buy the new fighters, but the fact is that Israel and Italy are already cooperating in military aviation. The most recent evidence of this was reported on December 21. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) delivered the first of two modified G-550 Conformal Airborne Early Warning (CAEW) planes to Italy. CAEW is an early warning and air control system developed by ELTA systems, a subsidiary of IAI. The second plane under this agreement is expected to be delivered to the Italian Air Force in 2017.

The aircraft are equipped with modern mission systems including radar, electronic intelligence, self-protection and advanced communications systems in compliance with NATO standards. So Italy can work with IAI and Bulgaria can’t?

Israel has sent the Ministry of Defence a letter of intent. There was also a personal letter from the Minister of Defense of Israel to his Bulgarian counterpart, inviting our experts to visit Israel and see the planes. Yet Sofia stays silent. Why?

What about armament? "Gripen" and "Eurofighter" do not produce armament; they have other companies do that for them, whereas Israel also do it themselves. The targeting system, air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles are Israeli. Since it’s a G-to-G (government to government) contract, there is no problem.

Here is something for Bulgarian strategists to think over - after taking a strategic decision, you need to choose the optimal option. And that choice is determined by a simple formula: quality-price-work.

The ball is now in our so-called strategists’ playing field. Parliament is voting on a proposal by the Ministry of Defence. Military experts should have more options to choose from, without excluding the feasible ones. And then it’s the politicians’ turn...

(News Excerpt)

It was reported on December 21 that Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) had delivered the first of two modified G-550 Conformal Airborne Early Warning (CAEW) planes to Italy. CAEW is an early warning and air control system developed by ELTA systems, a subsidiary of IAI. The second plane under this agreement is expected to be delivered to the Italian Air Force in 2017.

The aircraft are equipped with modern mission systems including radar, electronic intelligence, self-protection and advanced communications systems in compliance with NATO standards. /BGNES