{"id":2790,"date":"2026-10-16T15:03:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T10:03:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2790"},"modified":"2026-10-16T15:03:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T10:03:47","slug":"bulgaria-seeks-nato-anti-drone-systems-says-defence-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2790","title":{"rendered":"Bulgaria seeks NATO anti-drone systems, says defence minister"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><strong>Bulgaria has formally asked NATO to deploy combat aircraft and anti-drone systems to bolster its \u200bdefences after a series of drone attacks on \u200ccommercial shipping in the Black Sea, Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said on Friday.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Drones <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link--external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/two-ships-ablaze-romanian-black-sea-waters-8-sailors-missing-2026-10-15\/\">hit two ships<\/a> which caught fire off Romania\u2019s \u200bBlack Sea coast this week. On Tuesday, a <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link--external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/europe\/drone-sinks-ship-off-bulgaria-coast-prime-minister-says-2026-10-13\/\">commercial \u200bvessel sank<\/a> off Bulgaria\u2019s Black Sea coast following \u2060a drone attack, prompting Sofia to summon Russia\u2019s ambassador.<\/p>\n<p>The \u200battacks have highlighted the growing threat that drone warfare \u200blinked to the Russia-Ukraine conflict poses to commercial shipping near NATO\u2019s southeastern flank, prompting Bulgaria to push for stronger alliance defences \u200bin the Black Sea.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have sent letters and \u200ba request to the NATO Secretary General and the Supreme Allied \u200cCommander, \u2060urging them to strengthen our capabilities, which also means deploying additional forces on our territory. We are awaiting their decision,\u201d Stoyanov said.<\/p>\n<p>NATO did not immediately respond to \u200ba request for \u200bcomment.<\/p>\n<p>Stoyanov said \u2060he planned to meet his Romanian and Turkish counterparts soon to discuss coordinating \u200baction and a common approach to the \u200bsituation in \u2060the Black Sea.<\/p>\n<p>Bulgaria, which has proposed a moratorium on attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea, also \u2060expects \u200bto join <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link--external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/europe\/bulgaria-expects-join-nato-anti-drone-initiative-this-month-says-minister-2026-10-14\/\">a NATO anti-drone initiative<\/a> by \u200bthe end of October.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bulgaria has formally asked NATO to deploy combat aircraft and anti-drone systems to bolster its \u200bdefences after a series of drone attacks on \u200ccommercial shipping in the Black Sea, Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said on Friday. Drones hit two ships which caught fire off Romania\u2019s \u200bBlack Sea coast this week. On Tuesday, a commercial \u200bvessel sank off Bulgaria\u2019s Black Sea coast following \u2060a drone attack, prompting Sofia to summon Russia\u2019s ambassador. The \u200battacks have highlighted the growing threat that drone warfare \u200blinked to the Russia-Ukraine conflict poses to commercial shipping&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2790\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}