Spain will deploy Air Force fighters in Bulgaria and Romania before the end of the year

MADRID, 20 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Spain plans to deploy fighter aircraft from the Air and Space Army in Bulgaria and Romania in the next two months to carry out aerial police functions, according to sources from the Ministry of Defense.

The Spanish Air Force has been participating for years in the NATO air policing mission in the Baltic to prevent the intrusion of unidentified aircraft, especially Russian planes that approach the Alliance's airspace without complying with international flight regulations.

That mission was already extended last year to Romania to patrol the Black Sea and earlier this year there was an unprecedented deployment in Bulgaria to carry out the same mission over its airspace.

Up to eight Eurofighter aircraft from the Air Force will return to Bulgaria on November 1 for a new air patrol collaboration, as revealed by the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense and later confirmed by the Spanish.

In addition, in December the deployment will take place in Romania for a similar operation, in full tension between the Alliance and Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine that began last February.

In 2023, Spain's effort in air policing missions has been redoubled compared to previous years, deploying so far in three countries (Bulgaria, Lithuania and Estonia) with the largest number of fighter-bombers contributed to date. Added to these are the new deployments, again in Bulgaria and the subsequent one in Romania.

The first three missions resulted in a total of 38 real interception missions of aircraft that did not comply with international flight regulations, all Russian, sources from the Defense General Staff informed Europa Press.

When one of these aircraft is detected, the alarm sounds at the reference base and the fighters must be in flight in less than 15 minutes to guarantee the sovereignty of the airspace.