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For 19 years now, we have been asking ourselves what the state of our army is and how it can be modernized.

"With a very clear financially secured long-term program for modernization, that is, investments in defense for a 10-15 year period," said the Bulgarian military representative to NATO, General Sabi Sabev, in the "Day ON AIR" studio.

According to him, all governments that govern our country must be convinced and committed to a long-term process.

"There was an inconsistency with us. After the admission of Bulgaria to NATO in 2004, it seems that the politicians did not realize the need that we cannot move forward with the old army we had," said Gen.

Subev.

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"We are entering a defense union where military technology is at a high level. In order to be able to interact with these armies, we need to meet these standards in the same way, bring the army to the standards that are applied in the West", commented the guest.

According to gen.

Sabev cannot, for 19 years now, we have been asking ourselves the question where to find money for all this.

"Money can be found and set aside. It is a matter of reasonable policy and priorities. There is more talk than clearly taking measures," said Gen.

Sabev before Bulgaria ON AIR.

"We have missed many things as a result of a short-sighted policy that pushes us to the periphery of the EU and NATO in terms of defense. All those who intend to rule must answer the question: Should Bulgaria be a worthy member of these two organizations , or should we do it the old way? If everything had started in 2004 consecutively, we wouldn't have these problems that we are facing now," commented Gen.

Subev.

"Even a defense fund should be created, and not every year we determine some resource with the budget. 2% of our gross domestic product for defense is not enough, these talks are held even in NATO", pointed out the military representative in NATO.

According to him, the F-16 fighters have been in production for 10 years, and the fact that a new version of them is coming out does not mean that they are on the drawing board.

"All those who say this are absolute populists. This is frivolous. It is unworthy of them to throw such theses into the public space," said the general.

security and defense

gen.

Saby Sabev