Nikolay Nenchev

"Bulgaria's air space has never been more secure," stated Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev.

This is how Nenchev commented on the first joint mission with the USA for the defence of Bulgarian air space. Training lasted one week and the old Soviet fighter aircraft MiG 29 and American F-15 took part in it.

In about two months Bulgaria will have a wire fence built along 146 km of the country's border with Turkey, preventing illegal migration flow, Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova has said.

Bachvarova, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev on Saturday inspected the entire length of the fence built so far along Bulgaria's border with Turkey. 

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov is due to meet Croatian officials during his visit to the capital Zagreb on May 03-04.

Todor Tagarev, a Bulgarian defense expert who served as interim Defense Minister in March-May 2013, is taking over as head of a key R&D and training institute with the ministry.

Tagarev was appointed to the office by Minister Nikolay Nenchev on Wednesday, the Defense Ministry's press service says.

During their meeting on Monday, Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev and his Croatian counterpart Josip Buljevic agreed to consolidate the regional and transborder cooperation between the two countries.

The meeting was part of Nenchev's two-day official visit to Croatia which is continuing on Tuesday.

Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev is expected to arrive on a two-day official visit to Croatia on Monday.

During his visit, Nenchev is scheduled to hold meetings with his Croatian counterpart Josip Buljevic, the Minister of Veteran Affairs, Tomo Medved, as well as with the chairperson of the defence committee of the Croatian parliament, Igor Dragovan.

Bulgaria, Greece and Romania will take concrete measures to enhance their defence cooperation.

This was agreed at a meeting of the defence ministers of the three Balkan member states of the EU, which took place in Luxembourg on Monday.

A Bulgarian lawmaker has proposed to introduce military training for volunteers willing to help police and army personnel protect the border with Turkey from crossing by irregular migrants.

The rationale behind the proposal made on Monday by Boris Stanimirov, a MP from Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB), is to put the so-called civilian border patrols under state control.

The Bulgarian defence ministry informed on Friday that it has launched a public tender for the supply of ten engines for MiG-29 fighter jets.

The engines can be either new or repaired ones and are needed to extend the operational capacity of five fighter jets, daily Sega informs.

Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev said on Thursday that there is no migrant pressure on the country's borders and the deployment of 300 additional troops to the borders with Greece and Turkey is a preventive measure.