site.btaBulgaria's Special Operations Forces Celebrate 82nd Birthday

Bulgaria's Special Operations Forces (SOF) marked the 82nd anniversary of their establishment here on Tuesday.

The SOF's predecessor - a Parachute Detachment, was formed on March 18, 1943 and subsequently saw action during World War II.

The Joint Special Operations Command (JSOCOM) was established on November 1, 2019. It currently consists of a Headquarters, a headquarters battalion, the 68th SOF Group, the 86th SOF Group, the 3rd SOF Group, a Training Centre for Combat Preparation and Support, a Logistics Battalion, and a Medical Centre.

"At present we are on a par with our NATO partners in terms of the knowledge and skills of our personnel, but there is room for improvement in terms of logistics, equipment, armaments and accoutrements so as to reach the standards of our Allied counterparts," the JSOCOM Commander, Brigadier General Bozhidar Boykov, said during a ceremony marking the occasion.

He added that the military leadership takes an appropriately responsible approach to the process of rearmament and a project for the acquisition of new armaments has been developed in the SOF and is in an advanced phase. "Our principal priority, though, are communications because the ones in service with us are obsolete and not interoperable with our Allies," the General emphasized.

The JSOCOM Commander pointed out that this year's focus is on reorganizing, rationalizing and planning where the Special Operations Forces belong in contemporary warfare. "Next, the preparation will be reoriented and refocused so that we could be up to the operational requirements of the battlefield," he added.

At the start of the anniversary ceremony, a minute of silence was observed for the victims of the incident in Northern Macedonia.

Attending the event were Plovdiv Regional Governor Hristina Yancheva, Plovdiv Deputy Mayor Angel Slavov, the JSOCOM Deputy Commander, Flotilla Admiral Galin Manev, the Commander of the 24th Air Base, Brigadier General Dimitar Pavlov, the military attaches of the UK, China, Poland, the US, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine, former commanders of the 68th SOF Brigade, commanding officers of elements, local and central-government officials.