Bulgaria, Romania to Hold Joint Air Policing Exercise

Bulgaria and Romania will begin a joint air policing exercise this month to practice measures against potential threat to strategic facilities from hijacked or suspicious aircraft.

The main objective of the exercise codenamed Blue Bridge 2014 "is to achieve improved coordination and interoperability between Bulgarian and Romanian Air Forces in conducting cross-border operations on air traffic control and guarding of airspace," the Defence Ministry in Sofia said in a statement.

Bulgaria and Romania, which share a common border along the Danube, have one nuclear power plant each located close to the river.

The drill will involve a MiG-29 fighter jet and a C-27J Spartan military transport aircraft from Bulgarian Air Force. Romania will participate with a MiG-21 Lancer fighter and a C-27J Spartan.

The exercise, to be conducted in two phases, in September and October, also aims to contribute to increasing  the theoretical, tactical and flight preparedness of air force staff and their readiness to participate in joint operations, the statement said.

The new military drill comes in the wake of US-Bulgarian two-week training exercise codenamed Thracian Eagle 2014 conducted in Bulgaria and focused on maintaining joint readiness while building interoperability.