SOFIA, Sept. 17 — Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said here Wednesday that Europe should overcome its deep fragmentation in defense sector amid a deteriorating security environment. “The security environment is irreversibly pushing us to work together,” said Radev while speaking at a Czech Bulgarian presentation of defense and security technologies. “The way we can guarantee peace and security in Europe is to take much greater responsibility for our own security and to develop such defense capabilities that can counter any potential threat,” said the president, who is also the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the country’s armed forces. This meant investing much more in the development of modern defense capabilities, said Radev, who was a professional jet fighter pilot until 2016, when he retired from the army as commander of the Bulgarian Air Force. Radev mentioned such as drones and anti-drone systems, electronic warfare, systems for surveillance, intelligence, reconnaissance, communication, and cyber operations. “We need to develop broad pan-European cooperation so that we can overcome the deficit of critical capabilities,” Radev said.
Xinhua
