Bulgaria will ask parliament to approve the stationing of up to eight U.S. tanker aircraft at the Bezmer military base, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said on Monday. The request comes from Washington and is linked to support for U.S. military operations in the Middle East.
Bezmer is a military facility located about 260 kilometres southeast of Sofia.
Radev said the government chose to seek parliamentary approval after a previous move to base U.S. tanker aircraft at a civilian airport near Sofia caused controversy. Those aircraft left Bulgaria last month.
“The problem was that the military planes were based at a civilian airport in close proximity to Sofia,” Radev said, adding that Bulgaria had proposed military airfields as a more appropriate option.
The aircraft are mainly used for airborne refuelling, allowing military planes to remain in operation for longer periods.
The proposal comes as U.S.-Iran tensions have intensified again after an interim ceasefire collapsed, raising fears of a wider regional conflict.
