Exercise Thracian Star 2015 Graf Ignatievo (Bulgaria)
From July 13 to 24, 2015, the Bulgarian Air Force (BVVS) hosted an international exercise – incidentally not for the first time this year. Besides the hosts, participants were the 119th Fighter Squadron of the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard, which deployed with its F-16s to Graf Ignatievo, as well as units from Romania and Greece, which operated with their MiG-21 LanceR and F-16s respectively from their home bases. Bulgaria was represented with MiG-29, Su-25, Mi-17 and AS 532 AL Cougar helicopters, surface-to-air missiles and – to the author's great delight – MiG-21s.
Three MiG-21s were lined up on the flightline – and with them the entire still active fleet.
On the first take-off of the day, an American pilot was allowed to sit in the back seat of the MiG-21UM.
It was immediately followed by a MiG-21bis, ...
... which then formed a formation with the two-seater and two F-16s.
358, whose camouflage differs considerably from that of its sister aircraft 114, took off alone in the second wave.
The Bulgarian MiG-29s were also represented only in small numbers.
Take-offs were made – as has been usual for some time, to spare the equipment – without afterburner.
The Su-25s, actually based at Bezmer, have been flying from Graf Ignatievo for some time due to construction work at their home base. During the exercise they carried out live air-to-ground firing with unguided rockets.
A Cougar from Krumovo hovered for a long time at various points of the airfield – obviously for filming.
While most Bulgarian aircraft operated from the flightline, the American F-16s were distributed among the squadron areas.
Eight F-16s deployed from the USA to Graf Ignatievo.
After the press day, the exercise was obviously already over for 358.
The author's thanks go to all members of the Bulgarian Air Force who made the visit possible, above all Major General Rumen Radev, Captain Nadezhda Topurova and Ms Desislava Gencheva.
