Bulgaria is lagging behind in adapting to modern ways of waging war and must restore its capabilities for the development and production of military systems. This was stated by Colonel Professor Dimitar Nedyalkov, a lecturer at the Military Academy, in a conversation about the development of military aviation, unmanned systems and security in the Black Sea region.
According to Nedyalkov, the lengthy procedures for acquiring weapons create a risk that the equipment will become obsolete even before it is put into operation. He believes that instead of relying mainly on purchases from abroad, the country should invest in its own engineers, solutions and production.
„Otherwise, obtaining any modern weaponry from outside always leads to delays and to the acquisition of equipment that may already be obsolete in the future“, commented Nedyalkov.Technologies change in weeks
As an example of the rapid development of military technologies, the lecturer pointed to the war in Ukraine. According to him, in this battlespace, a given technology or tactic can lose its relevance in a month or a month and a half.
“We are behind, I cannot specify the years, but the case is extremely large, because technologies age very quickly“, he said.
Nedyalkov recalled that Bulgaria had been developing unmanned aircraft since the late 1960s and early 1970s. According to him, solutions related to artificial intelligence were also discussed at that time, but after the changes of the early 1990s, some of the opportunities were gradually lost.
“Future wars are the wars of artificial intelligence and robots“, said the teacher.Ukrainian experience can be used
According to Nedyalkov, contacts between Bulgarian and Ukrainian specialists in unmanned systems have not been interrupted. He stated that the first Ukrainian specialists in this field were trained in Bulgaria.
According to him, the issue is no longer just in the exchange of information, but in the country's ability to adapt modern systems to its own production and defense needs. Nedyalkov believes that some of the old Bulgarian weapons systems could have been modernized. As an example, he cited armored personnel carriers that can be converted into robotic platforms for logistical support.
“A large part of our weapons systems were sold off for next to nothing or destroyed, and they could have served us for a long time,“ he said.Security in the Black Sea does not depend only on the fleet
In the conversation, Nedyalkov also emphasized the protection of shipping along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. According to him, unmanned systems can support surveillance and security, but the protection of the region requires interaction between various capabilities, including aviation, the fleet, electronic surveillance and response systems.
He defined the electronic environment as one of the main factors in modern military operations.
“Currently, one of the main cases is the complex electronic environment in which we find ourselves. This war is invisible, but the results have great consequences“, said Nedyalkov.The occasion for the conversation was his new book “Life in the Service of Bulgaria“, dedicated to Captain Dimitar Spisarevski. The publication is on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of the pilot's birth and contains over 150 photographs, as well as archival materials that have not been published before.
At the end of the conversation, Nedyalkov said that the shortage of personnel in the army requires greater public engagement. According to him, the country needs servicemen with intelligence, morality and will.
Sources: btvnovinite.bg