Acting Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said the Bulgarian army is constantly ready for combat. However, the number of Bulgarians who can respond to the mobilization is decreasing.
Stoyanov commented that Russian mobilization poses a risk to our national security, but assured that there is no threat of Bulgaria’s direct involvement in the conflict.
“As you know, the army, in addition to carrying out its daily activities, is also at the border. She is in Karavelovo. We were also at the fires. The army is where it needs to be,” he said.
“We have strengthened surveillance and intelligence in the eastern part of the country,” Stoyanov said in connection with the announced partial mobilization in Russia.
However, how many fighters can Bulgaria mobilize, if the need arises?
As he wrote “24 hours”. our army currently has about 20,000 professional soldiers and about 500 volunteer reservists in case of need. To them are added the 45,000 reservists.
Over the next 10 years, the plans of the Ministry of Defense foresee that the armed forces will grow up to 43,000 people, of which 3,000 in the voluntary reserve. However, half of the current reservists will no longer be rallying due to age.
However, in the event of war, all men and women in the country between the ages of 18 and 60 are subject to mobilization, announced by presidential decree, for which a month of military training is provided.
To receive basic military training over the past 5 years, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Education have introduced special classes for high school students. For now, however, they are theory only and do not include weapon instructions or survival courses.
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