For yet another year, Bulgaria will host the joint flight training "Thracian Summer 2023" that will take place in the period 5-20 August 2023 at Bezmer Air Base and Cheshnegirovo Airport. For more than 15 years now, the joint training has contributed to the Air Force and the Special Operations Forces gaining extensive experience in real interaction in an international environment.

Forces and assets of the Ministry of Defence and structures directly subordinate to the Minister of Defence, the Air Force, the Joint Special Operations Command and formations of the US Air Force in Europe with three C-130 transport aircraft will participate in the "Thracian Summer".

The objectives of the training are to improve Air Force procedures for comprehensive logistics support and host-nation support, to achieve interoperability, and enhance the theoretical and tactical-special training of the air and missile defence units. During the "Thracian Summer 2023", troop and cargo transportation and parachute cargo loading as well as day and night parachute jumps will be performed. The participants will conduct training on casualty evacuation and aeromedical evacuation. Joint tasks with ground-based air defence assets will be performed.

The plan is, on 5 August, to carry out flights for the redeployment of personnel who will participate in the "Thracian Summer 2023". The US Air Force C-130 transport aircraft will be redeployed to our country on 7 August.

Within the framework of the joint training in the period 8-17 August 2023, day and night flights with Spartan aircraft of the Bulgarian Air Force and with C-130 aircraft of the US Air Force will be performed.

By 15 April 2023, Bulgaria is to submit its national report on the Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

The information exchanged on an annual basis between our country and the rest of the OSCE participating States is prepared jointly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence, and the Ministry of Interior on the basis of answers to the questionnaire adopted by the OSCE participating States. The bigger part of the questions falls under the competence of the Ministry of Defence. Those relate to, among others, the legislative basis regulating defence planning, democratic control, roles and missions of the Armed Forces, the execution of the military service, education in international humanitarian law, the legal and the administrative procedures to protect the rights of the Armed Forces personnel.

In 1994, the participating States of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) adopted a Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security. The Code is a fundamental document setting forth the principles of good governance in the security sector management and playing the role of a monitoring mechanism as regards the observance of the said principles. It became effective as of January 1st, 1995. The exchange of information carried out under the Code contributes to confidence and security building between the countries. As an additional transparency measure, the reports are published on OSCE’s website.

Bulgarian and Spanish fighter aircraft will jointly perform Air policing tasks from 14 November to 2 December 2022. The Council of Ministers approved the joint execution of tasks on enhancing Air Policing by the Air Forces of Bulgaria and Spain tasked to protect our country’s airspace. The mission will implement measures on ensuring the security of NATO Allies and will fulfil the tasks incorporated in the Standing Air and Missile Defence Plan of the NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defence System (NATINAMDS).

The Air Force of the Kingdom of Spain will redeploy up to 200 personnel and up to 8 Eurofighter F-2000 Typhoon aircraft to our country.

Two fighter aircraft will be on 24-hour duty jointly with the Bulgarian Air Force in the enhanced Air Policing mission. The Spanish Air force duty crews, jointly with their Bulgarian counterparts, will perform area protection tasks, interception, visual reconnaissance and identification as well as escort tasks. The Bulgarian Air Force will continue to fulfil its national commitments to the NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defence System (NATINAMDS).

NATO Air Policing is a peacetime collective defence mission. Its purpose is to ensure the integrity and airspace security of the NATO Allies.

The participation of personnel and equipment of the Bulgarian Air Force in the joint Air Policing operations proves the capabilities of Bulgaria’s combat aviation to act in an integrated mode with the Allies’ forces to ensure the air security of the member states of the Alliance.

Decisions to guarantee the security of Allies in Eastern Europe were taken by the Heads of State and Governments of the member states at the NATO Summits in Wales in 2014 and in Warsaw in 2016. One of these decisions is to reinforce the air policing mission of the Eastern Flank member states with Allied forces on a rotational basis. Until the current year, the Bulgarian Air Force performed joint Air Policing tasks in 2014 and 2016 with forces and assets of the US Air Force, and in 2017 with forces and assets of the Italian Air Force. This year, forces and assets of the Air Forces of Spain and the Netherlands participated in enhanced Air Policing jointly with the Bulgarian Air Force.

Bulgarian-Romanian flight training "Blue Bridge 2022" was conducted today, 6 October 2022, with the participation of servicemen from the Air Forces of Bulgaria, Romania, and Canada. In the first phase of the training scenario, a pair of MiG-29s intercepted a Romanian C-130 "intruder" aircraft and forced it to land at Plovdiv Airport. The Bulgarian crews completed all procedures and successfully performed the Air Policing mission - guarding the airspace of the Republic of Bulgaria in the NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defence System.

Prior to that, a pair of F-16s of the Romanian Air Force and a pair of F-18s (CF-188) of the Royal Canadian Air Force were activated from Fetesti airfield and brought into action against the "intruder" aircraft, whose role was performed by the Romanian C-130 military-transport aircraft that "deviated" from its flight plan in the direction of our country's border.

Our northern neighbor’s combat aircraft acted until the "intruder" was handed over to the Bulgarian pair of fighter aircraft performing the mission. The second phase of the training scenario involved similar joint actions to force the C-130 to land at a designated airfield in Romania.

The Bulgarian-Romanian training flights entitled "Blue Bridge" have been conducted annually since 2012. They are aimed at achieving better coordination and interoperability in cross-border air traffic control and airspace security operations.

The European Spartan Exercise 2022 (ESE 2022), international flight training hosted by Bulgaria for the fifth time, has kicked off. This year, the flying exercise will run in the period 3 to14 October with the participation of C-27J Spartan air crews and flight engineering technicians from Bulgaria, Italy, Lithuania, and Romania.

Bezmer and Cheshnegirovo airfields are the main areas chosen for tactical training to include tactical approaches, personnel airdrops, and engine running operations (EROs). To make the crews’ training missions more intensive, they will be able to plan dropping personnel and cargo into simulated drop zones, whereas Bezmer will be used for performing tactical approaches. Exercise missions will be carried out at Dolna Mitropoliya airfield as well. The crews will train to fly low level, perform tactical navigations in different scenarios, and suppress the air defences of the country.

The command and control structure of the flying exercise comprises representatives of the participating nations, as well as a representative of the European Defence Agency – the Bulgarian Air Force Officer Lt Col Viktor Bryaskov. Lt Col Dennis Innocenti, tactical instructor from the C-27J Spartan International Flight Training School in Italy, will be responsible for setting up the tactical environment and for mission planning.

The missions planned will include paradropping to be performed by Air Force service members. The exercise scenario also envisages practicing aeromedical evacuation (AE) jointly with teams from the Sofia Military Medical Academy, as well as AE teams from Italy, Lithuania, and Romania.

This year’s international flight training is the 6th iteration of the exercise, as per the Programme Agreement between C-27J aircraft operators from European Union Member States. The C-27J project was set up on the initiative of the European Defence Agency and is aimed at synchronising aircraft maintenance methods and aligning air crews and flight engineering technicians’ training.