Lockheed Martin announced on October 24 2024, that the first single-seat F-16C Block 70 Fighting Falcon destined to join the ranks of the Bulgarian Air Force (BuAF) has successfully completed its maiden flight from the firm’s production facility in Greenville, South Carolina.

Bulgaria’s initial F-16C Block 70 (311) – which has yet to receive its BuAF livery – graced the skies for the first time at 0930hrs (local time) on October 22, with Lockheed Martin test pilot, Charles ‘Seeker’ Hoag, at the controls. Confirmation of this maiden flight came some ten months after production of Bulgaria’s first ‘Viper’ began at Greenville in January.

Lockheed Martin states that Hoag successfully conducted multiple system tests to validate the new fighter’s performance and supersonic capabilities during this flight. With this, Bulgaria has become the third nation to clear a first flight event for the F-16C/D Block 70 after Bahrain and Slovakia.

With deliveries expected to begin before the end of 2025, the BuAF will receive 16 F-16C/D Block 70s – comprising ten single-seat F-16Cs and six dual-seat F-16Ds – in total. Sofia initially signed a letter of offer and acceptance (LOA) for the first eight F-16C/Ds in July 2019, before a second order for another eight aircraft was signed in April 2022. The ‘Vipers’ ordered in the second batch will be delivered from 2027. The training of BuAF pilots and maintainers on the Fighting Falcon has been carried out in the US using two F-16Ds that were gifted to Bulgaria through the Excess Defense Articles (EDA) programme.

This acquisition will provide the BuAF with a full squadron of F-16C/D Block 70s, which will be based at Graf Ignatievo Air Base and will enable the air arm to retire its ageing fleet of Soviet-era MiG-29 Fulcrums.