Bulgaria will invest in infrastructure that will help, if necessary, deploy NATO forces on the eastern flank but can also be used for civilian needs, Defense Minister Todor Tagarev announced on Monday.
Currently, the multinational NATO battle group under Italian command is on Bulgarian territory, consisting of approximately 1,000 military personnel. The plans are to expand the contingent to 1,500 and build a military base for NATO needs in southern Bulgaria, allowing a brigade to be formed.
“The deployment of a multinational NATO battle group on our territory has been discussed dozens or hundreds of times. During my visit to the United States (last week), we talked about how best to provide the necessary infrastructure as a host country and how the United States can help us so we can use available international co-financing funds for its construction,” Tagarev told bTV.
Bulgaria has a bilateral agreement with the US for the joint use of four Bulgarian military bases.
The investment of €6 billion is unrelated to the defence budget and will be used for road and railway infrastructure to help rapidly deploy military formations when needed, said Tagarev.
The minister spoke of new roads and railways with the capacity to ensure rapid deployment of allied troops, as well as oil pipelines, gas pipelines, and new warehouses.
“We are working on all these issues, not only within the competence of the Ministry of Defence,” Todor Tagarev explained.
According to the minister, there are plans for “all battle groups from the countries of the eastern flank of NATO to grow to brigade battle groups – that is, up to about 5,000 people. „This will happen when needed, we don’t have a clear timetable at the moment. We have to be ready to provide the conditions when it happens”, he said.
Over the past few years, Bulgaria has made relatively large investments in its military in an attempt to replace old Soviet equipment. The country bought new F-16 Block 70 fighter jets for $2.4 billion, 200 US Stryker infantry fighting vehicles for $1.1 billion and is building two new patrol ships.
Tagarev explained that Bulgaria will become a regional centre for repairing and maintaining Stryker combat vehicles.
Other projects include strengthening the coast guard, building new military radars, and even buying submarines.
(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)
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