Bulgarian air force

The Defense Ministry's proposal to allow other NATO members to conduct air-policing missions jointly with the Bulgarian Air Force is not and act of giving up aviation, the head of Parliament's Defense Committee has said.

Bulgaria will amend its legislation to allow military aircraft of other NATO member states to conduct policing of the country's air space jointly with the Bulgarian Air Force, the Defence Ministry has announced.

The repair of the MiG-29 fighter jets by Poland will be twice cheaper than the cost, which would have been incurred if the maintenance was carried out by the the Russian MiG company.

Nenchev revealed that a price, which is 20-30% lower than the one requested by the Russian company, was negotiated with Poland.

Six Bulgarian Air Force MiG-29 fighter jets will have their engines overhauled in Poland under an intergovernmental letter of intent signed in Sofia on Friday.

A tactical training involving military firing at the training area of the Bulgarian Air Force near the Black Sea town of Shabla began on Monday.

More than 750 servicemen from the Bulgarian Air Force, 460 troops from the Bulgarian Land Forces, 200 servicemen from the Bulgarian Navy, crews from the Military Police Service and Border Police will participate in the four-day drills.

Bulgaria's government approved on Wednesday a draft agreement on defence cooperation with Poland, moving a step closer to a deal for the repair of Bulgarian Air Force MiG-29 fighter jets by Polish military aircraft works.

Convoys transporting military equipment could cause delays to the traffic on sections of the Hemus motorway on Friday evening.

The equipment will be transported for participation in the planned international military training Shabla 2015.

The transport of the equipment will take place between 18:00 o'clock on Friday until 6.00 a.m. on Saturday.

Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev said on Wednesday that the contracts with Poland on the repair of the MiG-29 fighter jets are expected to be finalised at the end of August.

This became clear from the minutes of the regular meeting of the Council of Ministers, when Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov asked Nenchev on the progress of the negotiations.

A Bulgarian Air Force helicopter has helped contain a wildfire near Lesovo village, a checkpoint on the border with Turkey, the Defence Ministry announced on Tuesday.

Lesovo is not under threat from the flames, according to the head of the Fire Department in Yambol Region Yordan Sabev, Focus news agency reported.

The naval base in Varna will host the national naval exercise with international participation Breeze 2015, which will be held between July 3 and 12 in the territorial waters of Bulgaria.

More than 30 ships and 1700 troops from the navies of Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey and the USA will participate in the exercise, Bulgaria's Defence Ministry informs.