Bulgaria and weapons of mass destruction
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Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
has developed
weapons of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to numerous individuals or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natura ...
, most notably chemical weapons. Chemical weapons production was concentrated in
Smyadovo Smyadovo ( bg, Смядово, ; ISO transliterated ''Smjadovo'') is a town in eastern Bulgaria, part of Shumen Province. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Smyadovo Municipality, which lies in the southeastern part of the province ...
.GlobalSecurity.org - Bulgaria special weapons
/ref> As of 2016, Bulgaria does not possess any weapons of mass destruction.


Missile program

The
People's Republic of Bulgaria The People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB; bg, Народна Република България (НРБ), ''Narodna Republika Balgariya, NRB'') was the official name of Bulgaria, when it was a socialist republic from 1946 to 1990, ruled by the ...
had a significant
missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket i ...
arsenal, including 67
Scud A Scud missile is one of a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It was exported widely to both Second World, Second and Third World, Third World countries. The term comes from the NATO reporti ...
(Elbrus), 50
Frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...
(Luna) and 24
Spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...
(Oka) ballistic missiles.StandartNews.com "Никой не разбра, че горихме ракети през 1973 г. (in Bulgarian)
Since the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
planned to rapidly deploy its own nuclear weapons in Bulgaria in case a war broke out, the missiles were not armed with warheads, but only prepared to launch Soviet weapons. The SS-23 systems had conventional warheads plus a WMD launching capability. The nuclear missile launching pads and equipment were dismantled in 1991. The first missile brigade was created in 1961. In 1994, the country bought 46 conventional warheads for its Scuds from Russia. All Scud, Frog and Spider missiles were destroyed in 2002. Currently, Bulgaria operates a dozen Scarab launchers, but information over the exact number of missiles is classified. They are all armed with conventional warheads of 160 kg each.


Chemical weapons

Information over Bulgaria's chemical weapons is scarce. The only known chemical weapons production facility is located near Smyadovo, which now produces chemicals for civilian purposes. The country ratified the
Chemical Weapons Convention The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), officially the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, is an arms control treaty administered by the Organisation for ...
in 1994 and begun dismantlement in 2000.


Biological weapons

Bulgaria has signed and ratified the Biological Weapons Convention.


Nuclear weapons

Bulgaria has never developed nuclear weapons, although some treaties with the Soviet Union guaranteed the deployment of Soviet warheads on Bulgarian territory in case of a war with
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
. Its
R-400 R4, R04, R.4, R-4, or R/4 may refer to: Military Aircraft * Caudron R.4, World War I French reconnaissance aircraft, first flown in 1915 * Curtiss R-4, air ambulance version of the American Curtiss Model R utility aircraft, first flown in 1915 * ...
missiles were nuclear-capable. In the mid-1990s, journalist Goran Gotev investigated a testimony of an anonymous Soviet Army captain published in ''
Komsomolskaya Pravda ''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' (russian: link=no, Комсомольская правда; lit. "Komsomol Truth") is a daily Russian tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper, founded on 13 March 1925. History and profile During the Soviet era, ...
'', who described in detail an alleged Soviet-Bulgarian nuclear weapons facility which hosted 70 warheads for tactical missiles. The site consisted of "four three-storey apartment blocks, barracks, a cafeteria, a sports field, a social club, a store, and a plaza", and had 130 personnel. The unit was disbanded in 1989, the warheads were quickly shipped to Ukraine and all equipment, uniforms and photos that were present at the facility were destroyed. Another Russian Army official later denied the story. However, in the 1980s four Bulgarian Air Force majors received training in the Soviet Union on releasing nuclear weapons from
MiG-23BN The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-23; NATO reporting name: Flogger) is a variable-sweep wing, variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB, design bureau in the Sovi ...
aircraft. In 2001, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry denied the "presence" of nuclear weapons in Bulgaria. The country has the potential to establish a military nuclear program, having a nuclear powerplant at
Kozloduy Kozloduy ( ) is a town in northwest Bulgaria, located in Vratsa Province, on the Danube River. The city was liberated from Ottoman rule on 23 November 1877 by the Romanian Army under the command of the Imperial Russian Army. Kozloduy is best know ...
with its own
plutonium Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibi ...
storage facility. A nuclear research facility with a 200 kW pool-type reactor is in operation in
Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...
. The reactor of the facility produces some nuclear material, which is stored near Novi Khan. As part of its efforts to safeguard potentially weapons-usable atomic material, the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
nuclear watchdog assisted Bulgaria with the removal of highly enriched uranium stored at the shut-down research reactor in Sofia. The substance, which was 36% enriched and took the form of fresh fuel, was airlifted in December 2003 to Russia, the original supplier, according to the
International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...
(IAEA). Agency safeguards inspectors monitored and verified the packaging of the fuel, which Russia said it would re-fabricate into low-enriched uranium. In December 2016, Bulgaria voted against an UN Resolution that urged member states to begin negotiations on the complete abolition of nuclear weapons. In April 2018, information appeared about Turkey's desire to remove US nuclear weapons from the territory of the country. After NATO's official statements about the desire to expand the military presence of the United States in Europe, it became known that Bulgaria could become a new location for nuclear weapons from Turkey.


See also

*
Military of Bulgaria The Bulgarian Army ( bg, Българска армия, Bŭlgarska armiya) is the military of Bulgaria. The commander-in-chief is the president of Bulgaria. The Ministry of Defense is responsible for political leadership, while overall military ...


References


External links


Satellite images of an alleged nuclear facility


a 2002 act banning the production and storage of nuclear weapons in Bulgaria {{DEFAULTSORT:Bulgaria And Weapons Of Mass Destruction Weapons of mass destruction by country WMD Soviet chemical weapons program