There is no military threat to Bulgaria, therefore there is no need to take additional measures beyond the usual, said Deputy Minister of Defense Yordan Bozhilov in the studio of "The Day Begins with Georgi Lyubenov" on BNT in response to a question about whether the army is being put on some kind of combat readiness, different from normal due to the crisis in the Middle East.
The Deputy Minister of Defense explained that the American military authorities have not made additional requests to change the nature of the stay or the assets themselves that are on our territory, as happened in Romania:
Yordan Bozhilov, Deputy Minister of Defense: "In Romania, the "Mihail Kogalniceanu" airport is intended for the forward deployment of American forces, I was there last year, a very large airport, very serious investments are being made there, so at this airport, which is intended for the forward deployment of American forces, they have requested a corresponding deployment there as well."
Bozhilov explained that work is underway to move the American tanker planes from "Vasil Levski" airport, including to a military airport, but some military-technical considerations still need to be assessed.
Yordan Bozhilov, Deputy Minister of Defense: "Those that are in Bulgaria are at the request or request of the American government and it is explicitly stated that these planes are for strengthening the eastern flank. As I said, we have another military conflict, so these planes have nothing to do with the tankers and any other forces of the United States and Israel that are operating in Iran."
Yordan Bozhilov once again highlighted the good military cooperation between Bulgaria and Greece and expressed gratitude for the quick response to the request to deploy a Patriot system battery to further strengthen air defense, as well as to separate the two F-16 aircraft.
Regarding the F-16 flights over Sofia, Bozhilov explained that these are Bulgarian aircraft that are already conducting training.
Yordan Bozhilov, Deputy Minister of Defense: "I accept the criticism that in the Ministry of Defense, we seem to have underestimated the element of informing people. We had to announce this so that it could be seen that the Bulgarian F-16s are indeed flying and carrying out the training program. There are pilots, they can lift them, they can control them safely and qualitatively, as it should be, professionally."
Regarding the three missiles that were shot down over Turkey, Bozhilov said that the fact itself is worrying, but more importantly, they were detected and shot down, which shows that the NATO missile defense system is operating to its full capacity. The Deputy Minister of Defense emphasized that the Bulgarian air defense system is part of the NATO system, which is a pledge of the full guarantee of our security from our allies.
Yordan Bozhilov, Deputy Minister of Defense: "The NATO air defense system includes the deployment of radars and strike systems in Poland, Romania, Turkey, at sea, as I said, and in space. All this protects us, as it gives us the guarantee that if a missile, drone or anything is launched, it will be hit. Long before it reaches the Bulgarian sky."
We are facing two wars, Bozhilov added.
Yordan Bozhilov, Deputy Minister of Defense: "We must not forget that the war being waged in Ukraine poses a direct threat to our national security. This war is developing literally a few hundred kilometers from our borders. The new war that will start in the Middle East is of a different nature. Other risks and threats arise from it. As we have seen, Bulgarian citizens had to be evacuated very quickly. For me, this was the first and most significant threat. Now we are seeing the increase in oil prices, and energy prices in general, which will have a lot of repercussions on other sectors. We can expect other risks associated with this war. But what is important, and this is what our viewers should know, is that the situation in Ukraine, in the Middle East, and in other regions is constantly being analyzed."