Bulgaria

Ministry of Defence

Army

Navy

Air Force

PROGRAMME FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DEFENCE CAPABILITIES OF THE BULGARIAN ARMED FORCES 2020

GOALS AND SCOPE OF THE PROGRAMME

The Programme for the Development of the Defence Capabilities of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria 2020 has been developed pursuant to Article 16, paragraphs 6 and 7 of the Law on Defence and the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria.

The Programme is aimed at continuing and further developing the process of strategic rethink of the defence policy and the build-up of the defense capabilities that was initiated by the White Paper on Defense and the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria adopted by the National Assembly in 2010.

FUNDAMENTALS OF THE DEFENCE POLICY

Strategic Aim of the Defence Policy

The strategic aim of defence policy is safeguarding and advancing our national interests through the build-up, maintenance and use of adequate to the security environment defence capabilities in the framework of the Single Set of interoperable and modern Armed Forces.

Role and Missions of the Armed Forces

Role: the Armed Forces guarantee the sovereignty, security and independence of the country and defend its territorial integrity.

There are 3 main missions, for the Bulgarian Armed forces:

- Mission DEFENCE;

- Mission SUPPORT OF INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND SECURITY;

- Mission CONTRIBUTION TO NATIONAL SECURITY IN PEACETIME

DEVELOPMENT OF THE ARMED FORCES DEFENCE CAPABILITIES UNTIL 2020

The fundament of the defence capabilities of the Republic of Bulgaria is the Armed Forces. The development of defence capabilities is interlinked with the capacities to implement the tasks on Defence and Support of International Peace and Security missions. Mission Contribution to National Security in Peacetime will further be performed with the use of already achieved under the other two missions’ capabilities.

To implement the assigned missions and tasks, the Armed Forces are to maintain size not less than 37 000 peacetime and not more than 40 000 personnel. Following the downsizing of service members in the course of years, as of 2015 the size of the Armed Forces has reached the critical level under which the implementation of certain tasks will be unattainable. The nonfulfillment of modernization investment plans and the slowdown in the disposal of surplus real estate, property, armaments, equipment and ammunitions does not allow further downsize of personnel without a drop in essential defence capabilities. Through modernization and acquisition of new armaments and equipment platforms and release of surplus stocks, the Armed Forces size will gradually be reduced from the upper limit to not less than 37 000 personnel. Thus will be reduced personnel subsistence costs while through the introduction of new legal mechanisms it will be necessary to guarantee that the reduction from personnel subsistence costs will be reinvested in defence for modernization and combat training.

Joint Forces Command (JFC)

The Joint Forces Command (JFC) is a functionally integrated operational level command and control structure and implements the full spectrum of missions and operations of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria.

Land Forces

The Land Forces generate force, train and support Land Forces units, capable of participation in the state’s defence to guarantee the state’s security and territorial integrity alone or within joint operational forces.

Air Force

The Air Force, alone or jointly with units of the Armed Forces of allied nations guarantee the air space sovereignty and security of the country and together with the other Armed Forces services defend the state’s territorial integrity, participate in crisis response international operations outside the territory of the country and provide to the population other than war disaster and crisis relief.

Navy

The Navy defends the interests of the Republic of Bulgaria in its maritime space, alone or jointly with Navy units of allied nations guarantee the state’s maritime sovereignty and trains formations for participation in international peace and security reassurance operations, aids the population in the event of disasters, emergencies and catastrophes.

Logistic support of the troops and forces

The logistic system of the Armed Forces will develop capabilities in the spheres of training, provision for the deployment and capacities for independent logistic support for the units of the Armed Forces in executing the missions and tasks assigned to them.

Cyber Defence

In response to the growing threats in cyberspace, we create cyber defence capabilities in the Armed Forces, which will be developed according to plans in compliance with the financial and material resources provided to this end.

Reserve of the Armed Forces

The reserve of the armed forces consists of:

- Voluntary reserve

The Program envisions to keep the size of the voluntary reserve of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria, which will remain to the size of 3 000 reservists.

- Mandatory reserve

The wartime units are manned with mandatory reservists and mandatory reserve equipment in accordance with the Law on the Reserve of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria. More information can be found at the official page of the Bulgarian Ministry of Defence:

https://www.mod.bg/en/index.php

For more information about Bulgaria's military forces visit their national webpage or contact the National Military Representative for more detailed information.

Phone number +32 6544 6553