Defense Minister: Bulgarian-U.S. Air Force exercise unrelated to Sofia Airport

A joint exercise of the US Air Force and the Bulgarian Air Force is being held at the Vrazhdebna Air Base in Sofia regarding the forward deployment of a logistics element, namely aircraft for in-flight refueling of another aircraft, announced caretaker Minister of Defense Atanas Zapryanov. Under the joint operations, up to 15 aircraft and a maximum of 500 military personnel may be deployed in Bulgaria for no longer than 90 days. Parking spaces at the Sofia airport are used to park the aircraft, as there is not enough space at the military airfield, reported BNR’s correspondent Tsvetelina Stoyanova. Minister Zapryanov emphasized that the exercise does not affect the international activity of Vasil Levski Airport for civil flights and does not require its closure.

The closure is solely under the authority of the airport management and is carried out to perform engineering and logistical preparations at the airport, the Defense Minister said. Zapryanov stressed that the exercise is in no way connected to U.S. negotiations with Iran. “No one has requested from Bulgaria either the provision of territory or any military participation in a hypothetical future operation of the U.S. armed forces against Iran”, stated Atanas Zapryanov.

Edited by Miglena Ivanova

Translated by Kostadin Atanasov