The air bases "Vrazhdebna", located at the civil airport of Sofia, and "Bezmer" near Yambol become key for NATO and will be renovated with Alliance money. This is clear from a government decision taken on Thursday.
A special project to increase the operational capabilities of the two airports is already being implemented, the Council of Ministers announced after the regular cabinet meeting. The Bulgarian government has approved additional requirements to the Air Base Capabilities Program Plan. It includes infrastructure projects and facilities that will be implemented under the NATO Security Investment Program (NSIP).
The NSIP program provides funding for the construction and modernization of strategic military infrastructure in the Alliance member states. It invests in air bases, communication systems, logistics infrastructure and other facilities necessary for the collective defense and joint operations of the allies.
The projects to improve the infrastructure and capabilities of the "Bezmer" and "Vrazhdebna" air bases should improve their readiness to receive and maintain allied forces and equipment if necessary, will increase their interoperability with the Alliance and will contribute to strengthening national security and collective defense, the Council of Ministers' statement says.
The "Vrazhdebna" air base is located at the Sofia civil airport "Vasil Levski" and uses the same runways and lanes. It was at Sofia Airport that the American tanker aircraft were stationed, since the infrastructure of the "Vrazhdebna" air base could not accommodate them. However, the service personnel and equipment were accommodated at the base. The new project will probably make it possible to quickly and on a larger scale transport aircraft and troops to the Eastern rank of NATO. The Bulgarian military transport aircraft "Spartan" are based there.
"We will soon see aircraft not only of the US, but also of other NATO allies at the airport in Sofia," warned the Minister of Defense Dimitar Stoyanov at the beginning of the week. His words were a comment on a US military transport aircraft landing at the airport to pick up the equipment left after the departure of the tanker aircraft.
The "Bezmer" air base is becoming key for NATO due to the construction of a large military base in the "Kabile" military region. A base will be built there that can accommodate an international brigade. The NATO multinational battle group is currently also located in this region. The joint Bulgarian-American training ground "Novo Selo" is also located in this area, where there is a permanent American contingent. Until now, the Burgas airport has been mainly used for transferring troops in the area.
In Bezmer, there is an operating military airport, which was modernized for nearly 30 million euros by NATO and where even the largest American military transport aircraft can now land. The runway was extended and widened, stands were built for huge military transport aircraft such as the C-5 "Galaxy", C-17 "Globemaster", as well as for the smaller C-130 "Hercules". Currently, Bulgarian Su-25 bombers are based there.