site.btaChief of Defence Vice Admiral Nikolov: Currently, There Are Two Tanks, 244 Personnel from United States Land Forces in Bulgaria

Chief of Defence Vice Admiral Nikolov: Currently, There Are Two Tanks, 244 Personnel from United States Land Forces in Bulgaria

Varna, on the Black Sea, June 26 (BTA) - As at June 26, in
addition to the 80 NATO tanks belonging to Bulgaria, there are
two more NATO tanks which belong to the United States, on the
territory of this country, Chief of Defence,  Vice Admiral
Roumen Nikolov, said here on Friday.

Nikolov went on to say that there are 244 personnel and 44
machines, as well as service equipment, from the United States
Land Forces in Bulgaria. There are 11 NATO aircraft in Bulgaria
with 228 service people and technical staff he said, noting that
 the number will be different in a matter of only hours.

"The exercise Thracian Eagle 2 ends, the aircraft will leave
this country's territory, and by the end of the month the two
tanks and also three strikers which perform other tasks will
leave too," Nikolov said.

On Friday Nikolov attended a ceremony on the exchange of Navy
Commanders where outgoing Commander Commodore Dimiter Angelov
handed over the post to Rear Admiral Mitko Petev.

In Sofia, during Question Time in Parliament, Defence Minister
Nikolay Nenchev that "every future deployment in Bulgaria of
service people and equipment from the United States will be made
 in compliance with the 2006 agreement on cooperation in defence
 between the two countries".

Nenchev said the plans announced by U.S. Defense Secretary
Ashton Carter are related to the initiative to aid allies in
Europe for provision of guarantees to Central and Eastern
European countries about their security, independence and
territorial integrity.

Nenchev said that the most recently specified figure about
United States military equipment is 250 which will be
distributed amongst six countries. If the distribution is even,
there will be about 40 United States tanks in Bulgaria, which
Nenchev said should not be considered as any threat whatsoever.
He said the maximum number of tanks permitted for Bulgaria is
1,475, whereas there are 310 tanks available at the moment.
Nenchev was adamant that "there is nothing worrying in all
this". The equipment will not stay on Bulgarian territory alone
but will move where necessary, he said.

In another development, it emerged that a U.S. Marine Corps unit
 equipped with tanks, light armored vehicles and artillery will
be sent to Bulgaria this autumn as part of American plans to
help reassure NATO allies worried by Russia's involvement in
Ukraine. The statement was made and quoted by international news
 agencies  late on Thursday in Berlin by Brig. Gen. Norman
Cooling, deputy commander of U.S. Marine Corps Europe and
Africa.

Gen. Cooling said that 155 Marines equipped with four Abrams
main battle tanks, six light armored vehicles and three
howitzers are scheduled to be in place at the Novo Selo training
 area by early September. He spoke as NATO defence ministers met
 Thursday in Brussels.

Cooling said in addition to being a deterrent, the Marine unit
would train with Bulgarian, Romanian and other allied forces
over the next 18 months to improve the ability for U.S. forces
to operate with forces using different equipment and methods.
Marines will move through in six-month rotations.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said this week that more
American military equipment would be positioned in Estonia,
Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and Germany as NATO
 seeks to bolster its forces in Eastern Europe.

"It's certainly our intent to convince the Russians and
[President Vladimir] Putin to refrain from aggression and return
 to the community of peaceful nations," Cooling said, quoted by
the Associated Press.

"Ideally this culminates with integrated exercises with units
from more and more allied nations that are able to call for fire
 from one another's artillery, our tanks maneuver in support of
their infantry units, and vice versa," he said.