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The joint mission of enhanced airspace protection, carried out for a month by the Air Forces of Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Spain, has been successfully completed, according to the website of the Ministry of Defense (MoD).

Bulgarian and Spanish fighter jets have been performing joint airspace protection tasks since November 14.

The mission is in fulfillment of the measures to guarantee the security of the allies from the Alliance and the tasks in the Permanently active plan for anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense in the NATO Integrated System, the Ministry of Defense adds. 

This is a joint duty to protect our airspace, it is not only carried by the Spanish Air Force, stated the Acting Minister of Defense Dimitar Stoyanov on October 20 of this year, when he announced that Spanish planes will arrive in our country. 

At an official ceremony, the commander of the Bezmer air base, Colonel Milen Dimitrov, expressed his gratitude for the fruitful cooperation and for the initiatives that the Bulgarian and Spanish servicemen carried out together in Yambol and the air base.

"Joint missions like this are proof of the interoperability of allied air forces within the Alliance and are a success for NATO," said the commander of the 111 Squadron of the Spanish Air Force, Major Francisco Zarza Torres, as quoted on the MoD website.

He expressed gratitude to the personnel of the air base for the excellent housekeeping.

Spain returns its fighters to Bulgaria again

NATO's Air Policing mission operates under the control and direction of the Allied Air Command in Ramstein, Germany.

NATO's Joint Air Operations Center in Torrejon provides continuous round-the-clock mission control.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization continues to ensure the performance of tasks in peacetime, guaranteeing the protection of the airspace of each of the member countries of the Alliance, it is also stated on the website of the Ministry of Defense. 

The first mission was in 2016 from September 9 to September 16, implemented jointly with the US Air Force, Colonel Yuriy Lukanov said in an interview with BTA.

From July 1, 2017 to November 15, 2017, the combat duty for "Air Policing" of Bulgaria was reinforced with forces and means from the Air Force of Italy.

From February 17 to March 31 this year, our country's Air Policing combat duty was reinforced with forces and assets from the Spanish Air Force, and from April 14 to May 31, 2022, with forces and assets from the Netherlands Air Force.

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