Bulgarian Air Force leads multinational Thracian Star 2025 exercise with allied nations
SOFIA, Bulgaria - The Bulgarian Air Force is hosting Thracian Star 2025, a multinational military exercise running through July 25, with air forces from the United States, Greece, and Romania participating alongside the Multinational Battle Group in Bulgaria, whose framework country is Italy.
The Defence Ministry announced the exercise on July 11, noting that joint flights and coordinated tasks will be conducted across Bulgarian air space. Thracian Star was first held in 2010, making the 2025 edition part of a long-running allied training framework within the country.
The Bulgarian Air Force is fielding a range of aircraft and air defence systems for the exercise. The Defence Ministry listed the participating Bulgarian assets as MiG-29 fighters, L-39 training jets, Su-25 ground attack aircraft, and a Cougar helicopter, along with air defence systems. The ministry did not mention Bulgaria's two F-16 aircraft in its announcement. F-16s are present in the exercise, however - contributed by the US, Greek, and Romanian air forces.
The Multinational Battle Group in Bulgaria, with Italy serving as the framework nation, is also taking part, reflecting the exercise's integration of both air and ground-level multinational structures operating on Bulgarian soil.
Thracian Star 2025 brings together allied military capabilities under Bulgarian command for a two-week period, testing interoperability between the Bulgarian Air Force and partner nations that are all NATO members. The exercise takes place at a time when allied military cooperation in the Black Sea region carries significant strategic weight, though the Defence Ministry confined its announcement to operational details and did not comment on broader strategic context.
For Bulgaria, hosting the exercise underscores the country's role as an active participant in allied defence arrangements. The Multinational Battle Group in Bulgaria - a standing multinational formation on Bulgarian territory with Italy as its lead nation - provides a permanent structural link between Bulgaria and its NATO partners, and its inclusion in Thracian Star deepens that integration through live aerial coordination.
The presence of US, Greek, and Romanian air forces, each contributing F-16 platforms, places advanced Western fighter aircraft alongside Bulgaria's predominantly Soviet-era fleet during joint operations in Bulgarian air space. Bulgaria has been working to modernise its air force, and the two F-16s referenced but not listed in the Defence Ministry's announcement represent the leading edge of that transition, though details on their status in the exercise remain unconfirmed based on available information.
The exercise runs until July 25, 2025. Further details on the scope of individual missions and participating unit sizes have not been confirmed by the Defence Ministry
