The Navy continues to fulfill its tasks with all the means it has.
This is what the commander of the Navy, Rear Admiral Kiril Mihailov, told BNT.
"Unfortunately, our equipment is not among the latest, it is not among the most modern, but despite everything, certain improvements have been made in recent years. One of the newest ships we have in the fleet are minesweepers. They will mainly carry the entire burden of combating mines and the newly formed anti-mine group of Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey".
The fleet is looking forward to the multifunctional patrol ships - the first of them will arrive next year and is the successor to the destroyers of the Bulgarian fleet. It will be called "Brave". The second ship will arrive in 2026. Its name is "Courageous".
"We started serious training of their crews already last year," said Rear Admiral Mihailov.
Due to the war in Ukraine, the number of exercises outside the Black Sea in which Bulgarian ships participate is very limited, but army personnel participate in many international exercises
"The most important exercises for us are those we conduct in the Black Sea with our allies and partners. For the Bulgarian Navy, this is the "Breeze" exercise. "- a comprehensive exercise designed not only to train military capabilities, but to realize that vital link between the military and civilian society".
The two ships are a good start, but if we want to have a modern fleet, we need to look much further, the Navy commander said.
"We must continue to develop mine countermeasures and other capabilities to build a balanced fleet that provides safe and reliable defense of our coasts.