Bulgarian armed forces

	Bulgarian Armed Forces ; Българска армия ; Balgarska armija
guide
Commander in Chief :	President Rumen Radev
Defense Minister:	Nikolay Nenchev
Military Commander:	Chief of Staff ; Admiral Emil Eftimov
Military leadership:	General Staff
Military strength
Active soldiers:	25,000 (2016)
Conscription:	Volunteer army
Resilient population:	Men aged 16 to 49: 1,364,029 ; Women aged 16 to 49: 1,401,348 (as of 2008)
Eligibility for military service:	Age 17 and over
household
Military budget:	$ 671 million (2016)
Share of gross domestic product :	1.28% (2016)
history
Founding:	1908

The Bulgarian Armed Forces ( Bulgarian Българска армия / Balgarska Armija) are the armed forces of the Republic of Bulgaria .

history

Bulgarian war flag

Foundation and first wars

The Berlin Congress established a principality of Bulgaria as a constitutional monarchy , which, however, remained tributary to the Sultan and was only completely detached from Turkey in 1908 . With this began the modern history of the Bulgarian army (see History of Bulgaria ). In the Serbian-Bulgarian War (1885–1886), also known as the "War of the (Bulgarian) NCOs against the (Serbian) Generals", the young Bulgarian army was able to destroy the Serbs without any support ( Battle of Slivnitsa , Battle of Pirot ). Only the intervention of Austria-Hungary preserved the Serbian Kingdom .

After the war, the army was reorganized and the East Rumelian militia integrated into the structures.

The successes of the Bulgarian troops in the First Balkan War (conquest of Adrianople , Lüleburgaz , Kırklareli ) were not repeated in the Second Balkan War , when the Tsarist Bulgaria had to fight against its former allies Serbia, Greece and Montenegro as well as Turkey and Romania - at the same time, although on At the end of the Greek army was encircled in the Struma valley. While the Bulgarian armed forces were tied to the Greek and Serbian fronts, Romania advanced as far as Sofia and the Turks recaptured Eastern Thrace .

During the First World War , Bulgaria fought on the side of the Central Powers , first in the campaign against Serbia in 1915, later against the Entente powers on the Salonika Front and against Romania in the Dobruja . During the war, the Serbian South Army was defeated in the Battle of the Blackbird Field , the Serbian 2nd Army in the Morava operation and the Romanian 3rd Army in the battles of Tutrakan and Dobrich .

World War II and Cold War

During the Second World War Bulgaria fought on the side of the Axis powers . At the end of World War II, Bulgaria was occupied by the Red Army and came under Soviet influence. In 1947 the Soviet soldiers left the country. By 1955 only up to 108 Soviet military observers remained. The officer corps of post-war Bulgaria consisted of graduates from Soviet military academies and military schools. From 1947, during the Greek civil war, there were also border incidents with the neighboring country and Bulgaria asked the Soviet Union for military aid. In September 1947, the Bulgarian Prime Minister Georgi Dimitrov signed a Soviet-Bulgarian military agreement in Moscow, which provided for arms deliveries to Bulgaria amounting to 614,000 US dollars by the end of 1948. Another military aid agreement followed on December 31, 1948 for the delivery of 386 T-34 tanks , twelve torpedo speedboats, three submarines and 32 Tupolev Tu-2 fighter jets . From December 1950, Bulgaria received 28 Jak-9 and Jak-11 and 20 Jak-23 fighters from the Soviet Union for the establishment of two new air force divisions .

In 1953, the Bulgarian People's Army ( Bulgarian Българска народна армия ) had 146,000 soldiers without reservists.

In May 1955 Bulgaria joined the Warsaw Pact and a two-year agreement was concluded with the Soviet Union for free arms deliveries. From 1957 to 1961, Bulgaria received other modern weapon systems, including T-54 and T-55 main battle tanks and MiG-19 and MiG-21 fighter planes and fighter-bombers, and in the early 1960s some S-75 (SA -2 guideline).

During the Cold War and in connection with the Lebanon crisis in 1958 and the US plans to set up a nuclear weapon base on Crete and the plans to deliver medium-range missiles of the Jupiter and Nike types to Greece and Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and the Soviet Union reacted with several in the summer of 1958 Major maneuvers in south-eastern Europe, including one near the Bulgarian-Turkish border. Almost the entire Bulgarian armed forces, including the air force and the navy, took part in this large-scale exercise with full combat readiness . The Soviet Union briefly sent air force divisions to Bulgaria.

From 19 to 26 August 1967 another major maneuver was held on Bulgarian territory, in which armed forces from Romania and the Soviet Union with a total of 46,100 soldiers took part. 556 tanks, 5870 armored and other vehicles, 403 guns and grenade launchers, 832 aircraft and 160 warships were used.

At the end of the 1980s, Bulgaria, as a member of the Warsaw Pact, had 167,000 men under arms. The armed forces were downsized and modernized over the following years. A few RSD-10 Pioner (SS-20 Saber) and R-400 Oka (SS-23 Spider) missiles were also available, but they were not equipped with nuclear weapons.

NATO membership and international missions

Bulgaria has participated in NATO's Partnership for Peace program since 1994, and in 1997 it became a member of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) . In 1997 Bulgaria participated with up to 32 soldiers in the Stabilization Force (SFOR) for Bosnia and Herzegovina. From 1999 the participation in a Dutch contingent for the KFOR in Kosovo followed. In 2002, the last R-400-Oka (SS-23), Scud and FROG missiles were withdrawn from the armed forces.

Bulgaria became a member of NATO in 2004 as part of the second eastward expansion of NATO.

Bulgarian National Guard in parade uniform

The army was or is involved in international missions in Cambodia, Angola, Tajikistan, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Eritrea, Afghanistan and also in Iraq. 480 soldiers (as of December 2008) are stationed in Afghanistan, although an increase in military circles is under discussion. In Bosnia, Bulgaria is represented by 117 soldiers at the Althea Mission . 13 Bulgarian soldiers were killed in combat missions in Iraq. At the beginning of December 2008, the operation in Iraq was declared over. The last Bulgarian soldiers were ordered back from Iraq in mid-December.

In 2006, Bulgaria participated with the frigate Draski in the Maritime Task Force (MTF) 448 of the United Nations Interim Force to secure the 225 km long coast of Lebanon. In 2011 the frigate Draski was used as part of the international military operation in Libya to secure the sea routes.

assignment

The Bulgarian Armed Forces are tasked with protecting the territorial integrity of the State of Bulgaria and ensuring national defense in the event of war. In times of peace they contribute to Bulgaria's alliance obligations within NATO through training, provision and supply of the military .

organization

Main battle tank T-72 M2 in a parade (2007)

Frigate BGS Drazki (41) (formerly F912 Wandelaar ) of the Belgian Wielingen class

The civil defense ministry and the military general staff of the army have been organizationally separated since 1992. The commander-in-chief is the Bulgarian President.

Manpower

According to NATO, the number of soldiers in the Bulgarian armed forces was 29,000 in 2011. In 2008, conscription was abolished. There are also paramilitary forces in Bulgaria . There are the border troops with 12,000 men who are subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior, the security police with 4,000 officials and the railway and construction troops with 18,000 men.

Armed forces

The Bulgarian armed forces consist of the following branches :

army

The army is the largest branch of the armed forces with a strength of 21,500 soldiers.

Air Force

The air force is the second largest armed force with a manpower of 10,200 soldiers.

marine

The navy is the smallest of the three armed forces with a staff of 4,100 men. The headquarters ( admiralty ) and academy of the Bulgarian Navy are located in Varna . However, the home port of the Black Sea Navy is the Burgas Naval Base , which is also used by NATO.

Recruitment and training

The Bulgarian armed forces are a professional army .

equipment

See: List of weapons systems used by the Bulgarian Armed Forces

In the last few years the following items have been purchased:

literature

Peter Enne: The unknown ally. Bulgaria in the First World War. In: Viribus Unitis. Annual report of the Army History Museum 2009, Vienna 2009. ISBN 978-3-902551-15-3 .

Web links

Commons : Bulgarian Armed Forces - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Official website of the Ministry of Defense (English)

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c "Defense Expenditure of NATO Countries (2010-2017)", Press Release Communique PR / CP (2017) 111, NATO Public Diplomacy Division, June 29, 2017 (PDF)

↑ ^a ^b ^c CIA World Factbook: Bulgaria 2011 (accessed June 21, 2012)

↑ http://www.mediapool.bg/show/?storyid=147432

↑ The frigate Draski returns (Bulgarian) , last accessed : October 20, 2011

↑ Бургас поема командването на военноморските бази (bulg.) ( Memento of the original from August 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.