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Military of Bulgaria

Bulgarian Army
Logo of Ministry of Defense of Bulgaria.svg
Founded 1878
Current form 2002
Service branches War flag of Bulgaria.svg Bulgarian Land Forces
Logo-Novo-Vvs.jpg Bulgarian Air Force
Naval Ensign of Bulgaria.svg Bulgarian Navy
Headquarters Sofia
Leadership
Commander-in-Chief President of Bulgaria Rumen Radev
Minister of Defence Stefan Yanev (general)
Chief of the Defence Vice admiral Emil Eftimov
Manpower
Military age 18 years of age
Conscription No
Available for
military service
3,208,526, age 16–49 (2008 est.)
Fit for
military service
2,320,955, age 16–49 (2008 est.)
Reaching military
age annually
63,444 (2008 est.)
Active personnel 46,712
Reserve personnel 302,500
Deployed personnel See below
Expenditures
Budget US$1.190 billion (2009)
Percent of GDP 1.98% (2009)
Industry
Domestic suppliers

TEREM

Arsenal Corporation
Foreign suppliers  Italy
 Australia
 Germany
 Pakistan
 Russia
 United States
 China
 France
 Brazil
 United Kingdom
Former:
 Soviet Union
Annual exports €210,000,000 (2008)
€145,000,000 (2009)
€260,000,000 (2010),
€232,000,000 (2011)
€219,412,155 (2012)
Related articles
History Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878)
Serbo-Bulgarian War
First Balkan War
Second Balkan War
World War I
War of the Stray Dog
World War II
Incident at Petrich
Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
Iraq War
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
2011 military intervention in Libya

TEREM

The Bulgarian Army (Bulgarian: Българска армия) represents the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria. The Commander-in-Chief is the President of Bulgaria (currently Rosen Plevneliev). The Ministry of Defence is in charge of political leadership while overall military command remains in the hands of the Defence Staff, headed by the Chief of the Defence (formerly called the Chief of the General Staff). There are three main branches, named literally the Land Forces, the Air Forces and the Naval Forces and the term "Bulgarian Army" encompasses them all together.

Throughout history, the Army has played a major role in defending the country's sovereignty. Only several years after its liberation (1878), Bulgaria became a regional military power and was involved in several major wars – Serbo-Bulgarian War (1885), First Balkan War (1912–13), Second Balkan War (1913), First World War (1915–1918) and Second World War (1941–1945), during which the Army gained significant combat experience. During the Cold War the People's Republic of Bulgaria maintained one of the largest militaries in the Warsaw Pact, numbering an estimated 152,000 troops in 1988. Since the Fall of Communism, the political leadership decided to pursue a pro-NATO policy, thus reducing military personnel and weaponry. Bulgaria joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on 29 March 2004 and currently maintains a total 776 deployed troops in three countries.

The patron saint of the Bulgarian Army is St. George. The Armed Forces Day or St. George's Day (6 May) is an official holiday in Bulgaria.


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Wikipedia

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