site.btaBulgaria Holds Breeze 2024 Naval Exercise with International Participation

The Breeze 2024 national naval exercise with international participation started on Thursday, the Defence Ministry said in a press release. Until July 14, the exercise will take place in Bulgaria's territorial sea, contiguous zone and exclusive economic zone and in areas that have been announced by the Ministry in advance.

Breeze 2024 will bring together warships, aircraft, unmanned underwater vehicles, diving groups and staff officers from the navies of Bulgaria, Albania, Belgium, UK, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Romania, USA, Turkiye, France.

Participating in the exercise will also be NATO Maritime Command, Special Operations Command Europe, NATO Maritime Interdiction Operations Training Center, NATO Naval Mine Warfare Centre of Excellence, NATO Force Integration Unit Bulgaria Defence Headquarters, Joint Forces Command, Bulgarian Land and Air Forces, Rakovski National Defence College, Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy, Special Operations and Counter-Terrorism General Directorate and representatives of state departments, agencies and non-governmental organizations.

On July 6, the ships of the Mine Counter-measures Task Group Black Sea will dock in the port of Burgas and will also take part in Breeze 2024.

The main purpose of Breeze 2024 is to enhance the interoperability and interaction among the participating countries' navies by drilling joint missions and conduct of a broad spectrum of maritime combat operations and a maritime security operation in the region.