Bulgaria hosting troops and fighter jets
The Bulgarian government said that the country will host up to eight fighter jets and up to 200 troops of fellow NATO member The Netherlands between March 4 and June 24, in order to police its air space and fulfill its tasks under NATO's integrated air and missile defence system (NATINAMIDS) as the war in Ukraine rages on.
Between April 1 and May 31, Bulgaria will also bolster its air surveillance operations by collaborating with The Netherlands, which will deploy two warplanes on 24-hour duty over the southeast European country's territory, the government said in a statement on Wednesday.
According to the decision dated March 8, the government is also extending to April 15 from April 5 the ongoing service of Spanish fighter aircraft and troops on Bulgarian territory, which are also in charge of air policing and NATO-related air and missile defence tasks.
Four Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon II jets of the Spanish Air Force and 130 Spanish troops landed in Bulgaria in early February for joint air policing tasks.