Bulgaria asks NATO for air defence help as allies prepare Black Sea meeting

Bulgaria has asked NATO for more help to protect its airspace, Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said on Sunday 18 October, the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) reported.

Stoyanov said Bulgaria sent two letters to NATO, at the end of August and on 13 October, asking for enhanced aerial surveillance, air policing support and surface-to-air missile systems, depending on what allies can provide. He said he expected a final assessment of the help available this week. “You will soon see aircraft from an allied NATO member state deployed on our territory, and we are also expecting additional equipment,” he told Bulgarian National Television, according to BTA. He did not say which country would send aircraft.

He said Bulgaria had not invoked Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which provides for consultations when a member says its security is threatened, and that Bulgaria would send NATO a letter by the end of October about joining the alliance’s drone defence programme.

Stoyanov said Bulgaria must use “all available means, above all diplomacy” over incidents in its waters, and that a meeting with the defence ministers of Romania and Türkiye was expected soon. He called on the European Council to share any evidence supporting claims that Russian drones struck ships in the Black Sea, and said he was waiting for the results of Bulgaria’s own investigation into the vessel Chelsea-3. If a drone in a separate incident proves to be Russian, Bulgaria would probably deliver a diplomatic note to the Russian ambassador, he said.

NATO’s North Atlantic Council is due to hold a special session on defence and deterrence in the Black Sea on 20 October at Romania’s request, Euromaidan Press reported. Romania’s Defence Ministry said its F-16s shot down two drones over Romanian territorial waters on Saturday 17 October, Reuters reported.

Background

Bulgaria, Romania and Türkiye are the three NATO members on the Black Sea. Stoyanov said Bulgaria’s air surveillance modernisation had been delayed and that its first new 3D radar is now expected only in 2028.