/ world today news/ 1,200 military personnel from the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria, as well as MiG-29 aircraft and Mi-17 and Cougar helicopters, will participate today in the military parade marking the Day of Courage and the holiday of the Bulgarian Army.
Unlike last year, when heavy military equipment also passed through “Knyaz Alexander I” Square, this year there will be no such equipment. This will be the first parade for the new supreme commander of our armed forces, President Rumen Radev. The new Chief of Defense – Lieutenant General Andrey Botsev and the new Minister of Defense – Krasimir Karakachanov will also stand on the tribune, in front of which the blocks of soldiers will pass.
In the army parade, three helicopters are expected to fly over the square, and later three fighter jets. A Mi-17 helicopter will carry the national flag and will be escorted by two Cougar helicopters in a wedge formation. They will be in condensed battle order, at minimum permissible safe intervals and distances. Separately, three MiG-29 fighters will also fly over the square, again in a “wedge” formation.
Blocks of Guardsmen, Ground Forces, Air Force, Navy, etc. will march on the yellow cobblestones. This year there will also be a representative unit from the Special Forces Brigade with the brigade battle flag. With the recent changes in the military law, the brigade that was in the Ground Forces system is now a separate main part of the Bulgarian Army.
In each of the blocks, 64 servicemen, a company commander, three platoon commanders, a standard bearer with two assistants will march. The commander of the Air Force, Major General Tsanko Stoykov, is commanding the parade.
The harsh reality, however, does not hide that this May 6th, the system will meet with a bunch of problems that have not been solved over the years. The report on the state of the armed forces states that they are now only able to partially fulfill their constitutional obligations in terms of guaranteeing national sovereignty and adequate participation in collective defense within NATO. One of the main reasons is precisely the underfunding of the army in recent years, which leads to a shortage of personnel of the order of 25-30% of the necessary people in the defense and armed forces.
The other unresolved and accumulated problem over the years is that of outdated technology. Last year, projects to acquire a new type of combat aircraft for the Air Force and patrol ships for the Navy were given the go-ahead. However, the end of the road is not yet in sight. On the project for a new type of combat aircraft, experts have already ranked the bids, but an interdepartmental working group is still to conduct negotiations. So far, it has not even been submitted to the Ministry of Defense, and so the “green light” has not really been given to the project to modernize the Ground Forces (SV) for an infantry fighting vehicle. And, already in the middle of last year, the leadership of the largest type of armed forces warned that if it is not implemented, within 4-5 years they will be on the verge of extinction. To put it mildly, only the infantry will remain.
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