This morning, President Rumen Radev took off from Graf Ignatievo Air Base as the co-pilot of an F-16 fighter jet from the US Air Force. In the double cabin, the Bulgarian head of state was together with the commander of the Aviano airbase in Italy, Brigadier General Tad Clark.
During the flight, the head of state has the opportunity to assess the capabilities of the fighter. The flight lasted about 40 minutes, after which Radev awarded the commander of the 31st Air Wing of the US Air Force with an honorary badge, BNT reported.
“We performed all kinds of aerobatic figures, it was wonderful, and the air base is undergoing a large-scale renovation,” said President Radev.
General Clark was awarded for his significant contribution to strategic defense cooperation between Bulgaria and the United States.
“I want to thank the United States Air Force and personally the Commander of the 31st Fighter Wing, General Clark, for the invitation and the opportunity to fly the F-16 again. I remember 2007 gen. Clarke, then a captain, was part of the team of Stormtroopers who were here. As you can see – after 17 years we are together again, this time on the same plane. And this flight takes me back to 2005 – then, as commander of the Graf Ignatievo Air Base, I approached the US Air Force with a proposal to have a squadron of Aviano F-16s in Bulgaria and to finally start realistic fighter exercises. And in September 2005, this squadron landed here, and that’s how we started an extremely fruitful cooperation between the US Air Force and the Bulgarian Air Force,” the Bulgarian president pointed out.
#President #flies #F16 #General #Clark
