The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, has guaranteed this Thursday that the four combat planes euro fighter that Spain will deploy in Bulgaria will be dedicated to “surveillance and patrol” and in no case will they assume offensive missions.
In statements to the media, after a tribute to the victims of the pandemic with the Military Emergency Unit (UME), The minister has confirmed that the fighters of the 14th Wing of the Air Force will depart this Friday from the base of Los Llanos (Albacete) to monitor the airspace of the Black Sea between February 15 and March 31.
In Bulgaria there is already a logistics team that has previously traveled there with the necessary material for the mission of some 130 Spanish troops at the base of Graf Ignatievo. When this operation ends, the four Spanish Eurofighters will travel to Lithuania, where they will be joined by another two aircraft, to continue with the Baltic Air Policing mission there.
In the midst of the crisis with Russia, Robles stressed that these are missions in which Spain has been participating for almost a decade and its function is to monitor the airspace for aircraft tracking that they can cross it without identifying.
“In no case does it have an offensive character, simply for patrolling, security and stability,” has remarked insisting that they are “ordinary” operations of Spain with NATO. “It is nothing new or anything different from what we have been doing,” emphasized the minister, who explained that Spain maintains its commitment to diplomatic channels and dialogue as a solution to the conflict with Russia.
Spain has participated in the so-called Baltic Air Police since 2015 –in Estonia and Lithuania— and last year it also deployed to Romania. This year will be the first time that Spanish fighters operate in Bulgaria.
The Spanish Armed Forces are also present in the area of tension through their participation in permanent NATO naval missions with ships ‘Blas de Lezo’, ‘Meteoro’ and ‘Sella’, integrated into the groups of the Alliance present in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.