The rearmament of the Bulgarian Air Force with F-16 Block 70 aircraft will contribute to the introduction of new technologies at the Avionams Aircraft Repair Plant for the maintenance of the fighter aircraft entirely on Bulgarian territory. There will be no need to send this aircraft abroad, which saves costs and builds the necessary capacity of specialists, Bulgaria’s caretaker Minister of Defense Atanas Zapryanov said at a seminar entitled "Innovations in the Bulgarian Defence Industry and the Modernization of the Bulgarian Armed Forces".

The seminar was held under the auspices of Defense Minister Atanas Zapryanov and the Economy and Industry Minister Petko Nikolov. The decision to build basic national capacities for the maintenance of F-16 Block 70 fighters was taken at the beginning of April by the Nikolay Denkov cabinet.