The Bulgarian-American joint training “Thracian Spring 2012”started today, 14 June 2012, and it will continue until 29 June 2012. The joint training is conducted in Plovdiv area, southern Bulgaria, and forces and materiel of the Ministry of Defense, the Bulgarian army, the Ministry of Interior, and the US Air Force in Europe, will take part in the drills.

From the American side, a number of transport Hercules C-130 aircraft and up to 150 servicemen, and from the Bulgarian side one transport C-27 J Spartan aircraft, one air defense missile division, a special unit of the Ministry of Interior, and up to 580 servicemen, 350 of whom from 68th Special Forces brigade of the Bulgarian Land Forces, will participate in the training.

During the drills, daylight and night training jumps and combat parachute jumps from Hercules C-130 aircraft and from C-27J Spartan aircraft will be performed. The Bulgarian and the American crews will conduct tactical low altitude flights, transport of troops and cargo, tactical air dropping and landing as well as different ways of delivering humanitarian assistance for population in distress.
Representatives of the European Defense Agency will participate as observers in the training.

The commander of the joint training is Colonel Yavor Mateev, Chief of Joint Facilities Department to the Ministry of Defense.

“The Sixth Balkan Countries CHODs Conference is of great importance for the military cooperation in the region because it once again emphasizes the good neighborly relations as well as the efforts of the countries towards enhancing security and stability in the region,” the Chief of Defence General Simeon Simeonov said in a briefing to journalist today, 13 June 2012.

Senior military officials who participated in the Forum expressed their high esteem to Bulgaria for hosting “Energy Flame 2012” multinational computer assisted exercise. It is the first of its kind in the sphere of energy security aimed at enhancing capabilities in responding to a regional crisis.

The Chief of Defence General Simeon Simeonov made an announcement that upon the invitation by Major General Khemal Gjunkshi the next conference will be held in Tirana, Albania, in 2013.

Within the framework of the Conference, seven national presentations were made by means of which the Chiefs of Defence delineated the possibility for joint employment of the national centers and training ranges for preparation of the contingents as well as for exchange of cadets in the military schools and academies.

In response to a question asked by a journalist, General Simeonov clarified that the Defence Staff bears no direct responsibility with respect to amounts of munitions stored in private depots.

The joint Bulgarian-Romanian one-day exercise BLUE BRIDGE 2012” was successfully accomplished with the participation of servicemen and materiel of the two countries’ Air Forces. The exercise was conducted on the basis of the Technical Agreement signed between the Ministries of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania.

The basic goal of the exercise was to achieve better coordination and interoperability between the Air Forces of the two countries in fulfilling trans-border Air Policing operations by maintaining air navigation command and control, and control of the radio provision.

The flights were conducted in the airspace of the two countries putting to tests and practicing elements related to joint execution of Air Policing procedures in cases of hijacked or suspicious aircraft which constitute a threat to strategic sites or to sites of particular importance which are situated near out common border.

The flights were conducted with MiG-21„Lancer” fighter aircraft by the Romanian Air Force, and on the Bulgarian side, with MiG-29 aircraft from Graf Ignatievo Air base and C-27J „Spartan”aircraft from Vrazhdebna Air Base.

The National Military Museum is on a tour in Paris with the exhibition “Interpretations on the Wars 1912-1918”. The exhibition was opened on 11 June 2012 at the Bulgarian Cultural Institute by the Bulgarian Ambassador to France H.E. Marik Raikov in the presence of the Commander of the Land Forces Major-General Stefan Vassilev. The general is on a three-day visit to France in order to participate in the specialized exhibition “EUROSATORY 2012” of technologies, systems and solutions for the needs of the Land Forces and Air Defense.

Brigadier General Elislav Ivanov, defense attaché, Diana Ignatova, Director of the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Paris, Irena Moutafchieva, Director of the National Art Gallery for Foreign Art, Bulgarian artists living and working in Paris were present at the opening of the exhibition, which was organized on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Balkan Wars (1912-1913). Fifty-five paintings by the most outstanding and popular Bulgarian artists – Vladimir Dimitrov the Master, Professor Alexandar Moutaffov, Boris Denev, Konstantin Starkelov, Nikola Tanev, Petar Morozov etc. were exhibited before the public, uniting the Bulgarian and European traditions in fine arts. The Bulgarian artists have succeeded in studying and reaching the high standards of art in the prestigious art academies in Paris, Munich, and Moscow.

At the beginning of the Balkan wars, few Bulgarian artists are mobilized in the army, most of them were volunteers. Their canvases reveal the situation at the fronts, the hopes and aspirations both of the soldiers and of the ordinary people.

During the World War I, the artists acquire the status of military artists to the Headquarters of the actively functioning Army and to different divisions and regiments. They continue to draw and preserve in their canvases not only the roads followed by the Bulgarian army, but also places, events, and persons that will never again have the chance of being represented in paintings.
The military artists participate in the two great art exhibitions dedicated to the World War I in 1916 and 1917 with more than three hundred paintings. The prevailing part of these works of art bought by the Ministry of War (today the Ministry of Defence) for charitable causes: the funds that were raised were given the servicemen wounded during the war and to their families, and the paintings were preserved in the Military Museum.

During the following decades, this collection has constantly been enriched and today the National Military Historical Museum keeps and preserves 4 700 canvases, almost all paintings by the artists who created their works of art at the war fronts in which Bulgaria participated.
The exhibition “Interpretations on the Wars 1912-1918” at the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Paris will be open until 11 July 2012.

The joint Bulgarian-Israeli flight training „Collector’s Item 12” was completed successfully. It was conducted on the basis of the Agreement for bilateral cooperation between the Ministries of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria and Israel in the sphere of defense, by fulfilling the Decision of the Council of Ministers dated 23 May 2012.

The basic goal of the flight training was to improve the preparation of the Air Force units with respect to performing in international environment.

Groups having different tactical allocation of the fighter aviation, air defence and signal troops of the Bulgarian Air Force participated in the training.

The flights were conducted with F-16 fighter aircraft of the Israeli Air Force and MiG-29 and MiG-21 aircraft of Graf Ignatievo Air Base performing offensive and defensive manoeuvers as well as combat manoeuvers aimed at surmounting anti- aircraft defense under the guidance of Bulgarian Air Force’s Command and Control System.