We made the right choice with our membership in NATO, which enabled the Bulgarian army to transform itself, to have access to new technologies and to work for interoperability with our allies. This is what he said in "More from the day" Chief of Defense Admiral Emil Eftimov, quoted by novini.bg.
"NATO is the guarantor of our security and defense. "NATO is a defensive alliance, it has no right to attack anyone," he stressed
"We are a little behind, but we can catch up quickly with a little more investment in defense. At the moment the budget is occupied by the F-16, the new ships, the machines. At the end of the Novo Selo exercise, there is a moment when everyone builds up - the so-called "static display", when I see the equipment of the allies and ours, I also see the eyes of the Bulgarian military. Therefore, for some time at least 2.5% of the GDP must be allocated to defense in order to be adequate to the times. Rapid rearmament is necessary, but this does not mean that we do not have adequate preparation,", the chief of defense also said.
Adm. Eftimov reported that the lack of equipment in our army is large. "The problem with people exists in all social spheres, but here it is the most prominent. This work is not attractive with this pay. The soldier's salary cannot be greater than that of a university professor, but there must be some social compensations, he believes.