SOFIA, Bulgaria (BulgarianMilitary.com) – At the request of Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, today (12th December), at its meeting the Bulgarian government voted to direct an extra BGN 113.6 million toward the needs of the Bulgarian Army, learned BulgarianMilitary.com.
Today’s meeting of the Council of Ministers, which was attended by generals and representatives of the Bulgarian Armed Forces and the Air Force, began with the approval of three draft decrees related to additional funds provided for the army, amounting in total over BGN 113.6 million.
Bulgarian Defence Minister Krasimir Karakachanov announced that the Council of Ministers’ draft decree envisages BGN 33,433,000 for the needs of the central administration and for the needs of the Military Medical Academy. BGN 23 428 0000 will be used for administrative and construction works and facilities for the Land Forces, a stationary communications and information system for the Air Force, as well as for the Military Geographic Service. Other funds amounting to BGN 9 million are provided for the health insurance budget and for the national building stock and medical insurance of MMA.
Krasimir Karakachanov explained that with today’s decisions, the Council of Ministers has granted, in particular, BGN 10.9 million for the maintenance of five Cougar helicopters in 2019, as well as for their spare parts and inspection. For the Mi-17 repair, the government has provided BGN 817 000 and for aircraft communications and navigation systems – BGN 40 086 664. Funds are also available for the repairs of the L-39 aircraft and the Soviet battle tanks T-72. Additional money is also given for the modernization of the Army’s information system and for TETRA portable and hand-held terminals, Bulgarian Defence Minister said.
In the words of the the Commander of the Bulgarian Air Force Major General Tsanko Stoykov, the extra funds will allow signing of contracts, by the end of the year, for the logistic support of almost all airplanes and helicopters of the Bulgarian Air Force.
In turn, the Chief of Defence General Andrey Botsev said that this budget envisages actions both for restoring the airworthiness of airplanes and helicopters, as well as that of arms and equipment of the Bulgarian army.
Follow us everywhere and at any time. BulgarianMilitary.com has responsive design and you can open the page from any computer, mobile devices or web browsers. For more up-to-date news from us, follow our Reddit, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Google+ pages. Do not miss the chance to subscribe to our newsletter.
BulgarianMilitary.com
Sources: BTA, Mediapool