A faulty American F-16 has triggered a political scandal in Bulgaria | Ukrainian news

Parliament requires an investigation into the “potential sabotage” of aircraft integration into the Bulgarian Air Force

A technical malfunction in a recently delivered F-16 block 70 fighter aircraft in Bulgaria caused political turbulence in Sofia. The legislator suspects foreign secret services and sabotage, reports Euractiv.

The aircraft, which is part of the strategic transition from Bulgaria to defense skills of the NATO standard, came from the USA a month ago. It is the first of a planned 16 fighter planes, the newspaper reported.

After the F-16 misalignment had been discovered, the parliamentary committee for security services called for an investigation into “possible non-authorized access through enemy organizations to classified information” and “potential sabotage that targets the official integration of the aircraft into the Bulgarian Luftwaffe”.

Parliamentarians also call for official hearings with the participation of the Minister of Defense Atanas Zapryanov and the head of military and civilian secret services.

Zapryanov denied all the allegations of sabotage.

“There was no sabotage of the F-16. Let us stop the political attacks. Bulgarian pilots and crews are experts,” he said.

The minister made it clear that the problem is related to a device disorders discovered by the American pilot during the delivery.

According to him, the malfunction is fixed directly by the manufacturer Lockheed Martin and the plane will remain under the technical supervision of the American specialists over the next three years.

“A simple technical problem has turned into a domestic and foreign policy drama,” he added, suggesting that “the risk of trusting the public in the military euro atlantic transition in Bulgaria.”

As the publication determines, the episode shows the high sensitivity of the problem of creating defense and cyber security of a NATO limit in view of the current regional instability and hybrid pressure from Russia.

• On January 16, the MPs of the National Assembly in Bulgaria approved a new government led by Prime Minister Zhelyazkov.
• On April 3, the Bulgarian Parliament did not appreciate confidence in the government of Rosen Zhelyazkov, which was introduced by the pro-Russian Renaissance party with the support of two populist nationalist parties.