Bulgaria and the USA sign Roadmap 2020-2030 in the area of defense

Bulgaria and the United States have signed a military 2020-2030 Roadmap. This happened at a meeting between Bulgaria’s Defense Minister Krassimir Karakachanov and US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper at the Pentagon in Washington on October 6.

Under the State Department's Foreign Military Funding Program, Bulgaria is expected to receive $15.4 million to build critical capabilities of the armed forces, BNT learned from its diplomatic sources.

The meeting between Deputy Prime Minister Krassimir Karakachanov and Secretary of Defense Mike Esper began with a military ceremony and to the sounds of the anthems of the United States and Bulgaria.

The 2020-2030 Defense Cooperation Roadmap outlines plans to modernise Bulgaria’s army and builds upon the 2006 Cooperation Agreement with America.

In terms of foreign military aid, Bulgaria is expected to receive $15.4 million from the United States. Eight million of them will be used for the building of a Centre for Cyber ​​Defense in Bulgaria and a Cyber ​​Defense Adviser should be funded to assist the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense in implementing the institutional reforms needed to protect the country from cyber threats, BNT learned from diplomatic sources.

$810,000 is expected to be set aside to support the training and equipment of Bulgarian helicopter crews to support anti-terrorist operations.

The US Department of Defense will allocate more than $11 million to support security in the Black Sea.

In the past six months, the US European Command's humanitarian aid program has donated test kits and other equipment worth nearly $90,000 to help Bulgaria fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

And under the humanitarian aid program - $400,000 in various projects in the country.

Six American F-16 fighter aircrafts guard the Bulgarian airspace, together with their Bulgarian counterparts.