Tucson, Arizona has emerged as a demanding classroom for two Bulgarian Air Force pilots undertaking F-16 conversion training, where the intense desert heat and the need to process large amounts of technical information rank among their chief difficulties. Captain Svetoslav Angelov and First Lieutenant Dimitar Tashev are in the active phase of a multi-stage program that will, upon successful completion, qualify them to operate the F-16; both are due to return to Bulgaria later this year, in August and November respectively. The pair described a regimen that moves from basic aircraft handling to complex combat employment, and they singled out the climate and the tempo of instruction as factors that set the U.S. experience apart from training at home.
Angelov’s path to the F-16 is built on a mix of Bulgarian and American training milestones. He graduated from the Georgi Benkovski Bulgarian Air Force Academy in 2017 and a year later entered a U.S.-funded T-6 training programme in Columbus, Mississippi. In 2024 he returned to the United States to begin F-16 instruction; unlike some of his peers, he started directly on the T-38, a training aircraft whose avionics allow simulation of combat missions. Angelov then completed a transition course at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, preparing him to move from training platforms to actual combat fighters.
Tashev’s route has been slightly more compressed by time. He graduated from the same Bulgarian air academy in 2021 and arrived in the United States three years later. His arrival was preceded by a three-month English language course, and his flying syllabus began with training on the T-6 at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma. He accumulated 90 hours on the T-38 before taking the lessons gained there to Randolph Air Force Base, where instruction placed greater emphasis on the aircraft’s combat roles. Tashev described a rigorous evaluation process: after each phase of training students face a written exam, an oral exam and a flight test. All candidates must also complete centrifuge training; to remain in the course a pilot must be able to withstand a 9G load for 15 seconds.
The main phase of the F-16 program takes place at the Arizona Air National Guard base in Tucson and lasts eight months. The first two months focus largely on classroom instruction and simulator work; from there the syllabus moves to hands-on flying that begins with fundamental operations such as takeoffs and landings and then progresses to combat tasks. Pilots participate in aerial engagements — dogfighting in various formations — as well as intercept missions, night flights and strikes against ground targets. After the culminating exam, a pilot is technically qualified to fly the F-16. Because of the region’s desert climate, the workday at the Tucson base starts early, at 6 a.m., and typically ends at 3:30 p.m., a schedule adopted in part to mitigate the extreme daytime heat.
Two Bulgarian F-16 pilots in flight suits stand by cacti at a Tucson, Arizona training base during F-16 training, illustrating the hot, arid conditions they cited as a major challenge (BTA Photo/Irina Shopova)
Both pilots said the technical step up to the F-16 has been significant. Angelov noted that although the fundamentals of aviation remain the same, the F-16 “offers more possibilities.” He described the aircraft as his first experience flying a radar-equipped plane, and said it differs materially in the volume and type of information it provides to the pilot as well as in its more powerful engine. The new systems require trainees to manage and interpret far more data in flight, a shift that raises the cognitive load during missions and translates into longer and more detailed mission planning sessions.
Those planning sessions underscore another contrast the pilots highlighted between U.S. and Bulgarian instruction. Angelov said the American program places heavy emphasis on both briefings and debriefings: before each sortie every element of the flight is parsed — from the takeoff and transit to the target area to the specific mission tasks and the return — and after the sortie the crew reviews what was intended, what was achieved and how performance might be improved. “This process is different from what we do in Bulgaria, and I think that's an area where we can improve,” he said, pointing to the structured feedback loop as a notable U.S. practice.
Tashev stressed the intensity of the U.S. program and contrasted it with the Bulgarian approach, where he said students receive more individualized attention. He also pointed to the language of instruction as an additional challenge: the Bulgarian contingent must carry out complex technical training in English, a requirement that adds another layer to an already demanding syllabus. Tashev added that daily life on the U.S. base differs from what pilots experience at home because roles are strictly defined and personnel are not routinely asked to take on tasks outside their primary duties. Both pilots also acknowledged ancillary but important experiences that come with training overseas: living in a foreign country, forming relationships with new colleagues and confronting a markedly different climate are among the personal adjustments they are navigating while completing the course.
The training sequence the two are following — from initial academics and simulators through progressively complex flying tasks, centrifuge evaluation and final qualification — is structured to produce pilots who can operate the F-16 in a variety of mission sets. Angelov and Tashev said they value the hands-on exposure to radar systems, combat mission planning and the high-tempo environment, even as they contend with the heat of Tucson and the challenge of assimilating large volumes of technical information. They described the experience as both professionally demanding and personally enriching, noting the practical benefits of training alongside large numbers of peers in the U.S. system and the discipline imposed by its regimented routine. Living away from Bulgaria while completing the course, they concluded, has offered them new friendships and direct insight into operating in a different climate and military culture.
The Tucson course is run by the Arizona Air National Guard’s 162nd Wing at Morris Air National Guard Base (adjacent to Tucson International Airport), the U.S. hub for international F‑16 pilot training that operates more than 70 F‑16s and routinely trains allied aircrews.
Bulgaria has purchased 16 new‑build F‑16 Block 70 aircraft under two U.S. government‑facilitated contracts; Lockheed Martin delivered the first aircraft to Bulgaria in early 2025 and the initial batch of eight was handed over in 2025, while Bulgarian officials warned in February 2026 that the second batch of eight could be delayed by about a year.
The 162nd Wing’s Tucson schoolhouse has a long history of training foreign pilots and recently has hosted trainees and aircraft from multiple partner nations — including Ukraine and Slovakia — as part of the U.S. Foreign Military Sales and international training pipeline.