The hypothesis of a return to conscription is not on the agenda. However, some form must be found so that more Bulgarian citizens can undergo basic military training. This was stated by the Minister of Defense Todor Tagarev before the BNR.
As a possible option, he pointed out that people who want to work for the state must have basic military training.
“If we don’t take some measures to prepare the population, then in 10 years we won’t have such a composition at all,” warned Tagarev.
He pointed out that for the first time in 35 years the ground forces will receive basic combat equipment.
“I am harmful to Russian interests in Bulgaria and Russian interests in the fact that the Bulgarian defense remains underfunded, with old weapons, dependent on the Russian Federation to every possible extent – this will not happen,” the defense minister is convinced.
In 2001, the defense budget was less than $250 million. Next year it will be close to 2.5 billion dollars – 2% of GDP, which provides a solid basis for rearmament and modernization of the army.
According to him, there are three major projects that have been in focus for the last 10 years – combat aircraft, ships and armored vehicles. Now the third of them is leaving, which is very important for the development of the ground forces, Todor Tagarev pointed out. He announced that next Wednesday he will submit a program of investments until 2032 to the EU.
He identified the Stryker as the machine that gives us the best balance at a price we can afford.
“There you can see that there is not even a second brigade for completely new machines at 2% of GDP. We won’t be able to do that. We are not talking about 900 machines at all. But it was extremely important to have at least one modernized brigade because we have commitments that are to our own security. We are making another brigade, but not completely, not in this way – we will partially modernize by 2032. For 30 years, almost nothing happened from the point of view of rearmament. It will be a bit difficult to make up for this lag. We are doing our best to prioritize the capabilities the Army needs.”
bgonair.bg
