Bulgarian Navy

Bulgarian Navy Военноморски сили на България
active
Country	Bulgaria
Type	Armed forces ( navy )
Insinuation	Bulgarian armed forces
management
Navy Commander	Rear Admiral Mitko Aleksandrov Petev
insignia
Naval war flag
Gösch

The Bulgarian Navy ( Bulgarian Военноморски сили на България ) is the naval force of the Republic of Bulgaria . It forms one of the branches of the Bulgarian armed forces .

tasks

The Bulgarian naval forces are tasked with protecting the country's territorial waters. In the event of a crisis, they must be able to defend ports and coastal waters and cooperate with allied forces.

Organization and bases

The headquarters , the naval aviation horst (see below) and the naval academy are located in Varna , the most important naval base Burgas Naval Base in Burgas is also used by NATO . Further bases are located in Sozopol , Atiya , Balchik and Vidin on the Danube .

The Tschaika heliport (ICAO: LBWC) near Varna serves as the helicopter base .

equipment

To carry out its tasks, the navy has a submarine ( Romeo class ), four frigates ( Smeli , and the frigates of the Wielingen class : Drazki , Gordi and Verni ), six corvettes , eighteen speedboats (including six OSA and nine ZHUK ) and eighteen mine clearance boats.

For amphibious warfare there are seven landing craft (two of which are Project 770 ) for combat support, two tankers (one of which can also be used as a freighter ), three surveillance vessels (including two of the Moma class ), six auxiliary vessels , a diver support ship , and a demagnetization ship , a salvage tug and a salvage ship are available.

Aircraft

The naval aviators had ten Mil Mi- 14s at their disposal at the time they joined NATO . These helicopters were to be replaced by six AS 565MB Panther machines, of which only three were purchased due to budget constraints. After losing one of these AS565, a used AS365N3 + Dauphin was added in 2019 . The Bulgarian Navy thus had three helicopters as of the end of 2019.

Aircraft	image	origin	use	version	active	Ordered	Remarks
Eurocopter SA 360 Dauphin		France	Transport helicopter	AS565MB Panther AS365N3 + Dauphin	2 1

Coastal Defense Forces

Coastal defense forces are composed of a battalion (six- SS-C-3 Styx ) ten regiments (a total of 20 batteries ) and three guard companies together.

Web links

• Bulgarian Naval Forces website (Bulgarian)
• Country information from the Austrian Ministry of Defense

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bulgarian Navy accepts attrition-replacement Dauphin helicopter, Janes, December 9, 2019
2. ↑ World Air Force 2020. Flight International , December 10, 2019, accessed July 11, 2020 .