The Air Force is ready for firefighting missions from the air, Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov told journalists after his visit to the Krumovo Air Base.
Stoyanov explained that they have four "Cougar" helicopters, two MiG-17s, and this year they will also participate with one "Spartan" aircraft, BTA indicated.
The Minister announced that the last American plane took off from the capital's airport yesterday. The mission of the American aircraft in Bulgaria is over, he said.
The budget for the Ministry of Defense in the salary section is larger than the previous year. There will be no salary cuts in 2026 or 2027, Dimitar Stoyanov also said.
We recall that in 2025, Bulgaria was among the 10 countries most affected by forest fires in the EU as a percentage of the country's territory, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).
Last year, we lost about 300,000 acres of forests, many of them in NATURA 2000. A large part of forest fires occur in inaccessible terrain and cannot be reached by ground firefighting equipment.
And one of the key factors in controlling a forest fire is the speed of the response. In addition, ground teams cannot fight intense peak fires in dynamically changing conditions.
Specialized aircraft are of key importance for fighting peak fires, as the water carrying capacity is about 4-5 times greater than that of helicopters adapted for this purpose, which saves time, the number of water refueling trips, and personnel costs, WWF Bulgaria recalls.