Bulgarian Armed Forces

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The Military of Bulgaria, officially the Bulgarian Army (Bulgarian: Българска арми&#1103 represents the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria. The Commander-in-Chief is the President of Bulgaria (currently Georgi Parvanov). The Ministry of Defence is in charge of political leadership while military command remains in the hands of the General Staff, headed by the Chief of Staff. There are three main branches - the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force.
Throughout history, the army has played a major role in defending the country's sovereignty. Only several years after its liberation (1878), Bulgaria became a regional military power and was involved in several major wars - Serbo-Bulgarian War (1885), First Balkan War (1912–13), Second Balkan War (1913), First World War (1915–1919) and Second World War (1941–1944), during which the Army gained significant combat experience. During the Cold War the People's Republic of Bulgaria maintained one of the largest militaries in the Warsaw Pact, numbering an estimated 152,000 troops in 1988.[4] Since the Fall of Communism, the country's political leadership decided to pursue a pro-NATO policy, thus reducing military personnel and weaponry. Bulgaria joined the North-Atlantic Treaty Organization in 2004, and currently maintains a total 776 deployed troops in three countries.
The patron saint of the Bulgarian Army is St. George. The Army day or St. George's Day (6 May) is an official holiday in the country.

 

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Bulgarian Land Forces​

The Bulgarian Land Forces are one of the service branches of the Bulgarian Armed Forces. Their existence is to be traced back to the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681. In more recent history the Land Forces have played an active role in the Bulgarian participation in the Balkan Wars,World War I and World War II. The Bulgarian Land Forces are scheduled to become fully professional by 1 January 2008, bringing an end to mandatory military service. The Bulgarian Air Force and Naval Forces are already fully professional.
The current Land Forces commander, who took up his post in 2006, is Major General Ivan Kirev Dobrev.

 

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Bulgarian Air Force​

The Bulgarian Air Force (Bulgarian: Военновъздушни сили, ВВ&#1057 is a branch of the Military of Bulgaria, the other two being the Bulgarian Navy and Bulgarian land forces. Its mission is to guard and protect the sovereignty of Bulgarian airspace, to provide aerial support and to assist the Land Forces in case of war. The Bulgarian Air Force is one of the oldest air forces in Europe and the world. In recent times it has been actively taking part in numerous NATO missions and exercises in Europe. The current commanding officer of the Bulgarian Air Force is Lieutenant-General Simeon Simeonov.

 

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Bulgarian Navy​

The Bulgarian Navy (Bulgarian: Военноморски сили на България, Voennomorski sili na Balgariya) is the navy of Bulgaria and forms part of the Bulgarian Armed Forces. It has been largely overlooked in the reforms that Bulgaria had to go through in order to comply with NATO standards, mostly because of the great expense involved and the fact that naval assaults are not considered to be a great concern for the country's security. That is why three of the four combat submarines (excluding Slava) are now docked and have been out of operation for some time. Only the more modern frigates, corvettes and missile crafts are on active duty.
In order to meet at least some of the NATO requirements, in 2005 the Bulgarian government bought from Belgium a Wielingen-class frigate, the BNS Wandelaar (F-912) (built in 1977), and after being renamed to the BG Drazki the frigate serves as the flagship of the Bulgarian Navy. In 2006, following a decision of the Bulgarian Parliament, Drazki took part in the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), patrolling the territorial waters of Lebanon under German command. This was the first time ever the Bulgarian Navy took part in an international peacekeeping operation. The Bulgarian government plans to purchase a second Wielingen-class frigate and one Tripartite minehunter. According to PLAN 2015, Bulgaria should start producing its own classes of vessels, including small corvette-like helicopter carriers.
The Bulgarian Navy is centred in two main bases. One is near the city of Varna. The other is Atiya Naval Base, near the city of Burgas.

 

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NATO to Install Missile Shield Elements in Bulgaria - Report

May 27, 2011

A radar system designed to detect Iranian missiles may be installed in Bulgaria by the end of 2013as a part of NATO's anti-missile shield, according to a Bulgarian paper.

This has been revealed by a report prepared by NATO official Raymond Knopp, which will be presented at the at the spring session of NATO Parliamentary Assembly starting Friday in the Bulgarian Black Sea capital Varna, the Bulgarian Standart daily claims. The Alliance has allegedly decided to locate the radar system on the Botev Peak in the Balkan Range.

The NATO and US decision to install has reportedly been provoked by difficulties experienced in negotiations with Turkey on the installment of radar systems there.

On May 5 2011, Bulgaria's Defense Minister, Anyu Angelov, declared the Balkan country will not be hosting elements of the US and NATO missile defense system in Europe, at least for the time being

The original missile defense in Europe plan of George W. Bush administration provided for stationing interceptors in Poland and the radar station in the Czech Republic. The modification of the plan by the Obama Administration switched it to sea-borne missiles and, later on, locations in southeastern Europe. Initially, there were reports and expectations that Romania and Bulgaria will replace Poland and the Czech Republic, respectively.

During its summit in November 2010 in Lisbon, NATO agreed to adopt the previously purely US missile shield project as its own. The summit did cast some serious doubts over Turkey's participation in the missile defense system because it insisted that its Muslim neighbor Iran should not be mentioned as a source of threat in the respective documents, and eventually prevailed.

The newly announced US Ballistic Missile Defense site in Romania is approximately 430 acres (175 hectares) and is located within the existing Romanian Air Base at Deveselu.

A year ago, US Undersecretary of State Ellen Tauscher, declared that the United States has not asked Bulgaria to locate elements of the missile defense in Europe on its territory.

Bulgarian President, Georgi Parvanov, recently stated the country must become part of NATO missile defense, but the public will have to be informed with precision and detail. In a rare move, Defense Minister, Anyu Angelov, joined the President in this opinion.

 

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Bulgarian Air Force

 

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From "Thracian Spring" training drill.

 

[bularab]

What's your problem mate? I think this subforum is called "Military Multimedia" and I'm contributing to it.

 

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Mi-17 helicopter dumps water over forest fires:

Drazki (Daring) frigate which returned today from mission to Lybia

 

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Joint Bulgarian-Serbian surface to air missile firing exercise took place at a firing range on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast in September 2010

 

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Bulgarian troops in Afghanistan

 

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Personnel Statistics (as of 2011)

Land forces: 30000 personnel
Navy forces: unknown number (our government didn't release any info)
Air forces: 15600+ personnel

Total personnel: around 49000 but constantly our government shorten the numbers of military.

 

[StormShadow]

Hey...it's impressive
Thanks for sharing.

 

[bularab]

Thanks, I appreciate it and hope others will find it useful too.

More from these MiG-29s

 

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Bulgarian Eurocopter Panther at the ground