page_title: Bulgarian Land Forces
section_title: Structure
hierarchical_section_title: Bulgarian Land Forces / Structure
caption_attribution_description: English: Location map of Bulgaria Equirectangular projection, N/S stretching 130&#160;%. Geographic limits of the map: N: 44.4° N S: 41.1° N W: 22.1° E E: 28.9° E
context_page_description: The Bulgarian Land Forces are the ground warfare branch of the Bulgarian Armed Forces. The Land Forces were established in 1878, when they were composed of anti-Ottoman militia and were the only branch of the Bulgarian military. The Land Forces are administered by the Ministry of Defence, previously known as the Ministry of War during the Kingdom of Bulgaria.
  The Land Forces were made up of conscripts throughout most of Bulgaria's history. During World War I, it fielded more than one million troops out of Bulgaria's total population of around four million. Two-year conscription was obligatory during Communism, but its term was reduced in the 1990s. Conscription for all branches was terminated in 2008; since then, the Land Forces are a volunteer force. Bulgarian Land Forces troops are deployed on peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.
  Since 2004, the Land Forces are in a process of continued restructuring. Under the most recent reform, brigades were reduced to regiments, while several garrisons and brigades were disbanded.
context_section_description: Land Forces Command, Sofia
  2nd Mechanized Brigade, Stara Zagora
  Headquarters Battalion, Stara Zagora
  31st Mechanized Battalion, Haskovo
  38th Mechanized Battalion, Stara Zagora
  42nd Mechanized Battalion, Yambol
  20th Self-Propelled Artillery Battalion, Stara Zagora
  91st Surface-to-Air Missile Battalion, Pleven
  78th Engineer Battalion, Stara Zagora
  Logistics Battalion, Stara Zagora
  2nd Military Police Company, Stara Zagora
  61st Mechanized Brigade, Karlovo
  Headquarters Battalion, Karlovo
  1st Mechanized Battalion, Karlovo
  2nd Mechanized Battalion, Kazanlak
  3rd Mechanized Battalion, Karlovo
  61st Self-Propelled Artillery Battalion, Kazanlak
  Surface-to-Air Missile Battalion, Kazanlak
  Engineer Battalion
  Logistics Battalion, Karlovo
  61st Military Police Company, Karlovo
  Brigade Command Blagoevgrad
  3rd Independent Mechanized Battalion, Blagoevgrad
  10th Independent Mechanized Battalion, Vratsa
  Joint Center for Initial Training (JITC), Pleven
  4th Mechanized Battalion, Pleven
  29th Mechanized Battalion, Shumen
  101st Alpine Regiment, Smolyan - the 68th Special Forces Brigade was transferred from the Land Forces to the Chief of Defence on February 1, 2017. 101st Mountain Battalion detached from it and retained its place within the Land Forces to become their special operations unit with an upgrade to regiment.
  4th Artillery Regiment, Asenovgrad
  Headquarters Battery, Asenovgrad
  1st Towed Artillery Gun Battalion
  Tactical Surface-to-Surface Missile Battalion
  Multiple Launch Rocket Systems Battalion
  Anti-Tank Battalion
  Logistics Unit, Asenovgrad
  55th Engineer Regiment, Belene
  Headquarters Company, Belene
  54th Combat Engineer Support Battalion, Belene
  91st General Engineer Support Battalion, Plovdiv
  Bridge Construction Engineer Battalion, Stara Zagora
  Engineer Training Center, Belene
  Logistics Unit, Belene
  110th Logistic Regiment, Plovdiv
  Headquarters Company, Plovdiv
  1st Logistic Support Battalion, attached to the 61st MechBde battalion battlegroups
  2nd Logistic Support Battalion, attached to the 2nd MechBde battalion battlegroups
  other support battalions (repair, supply and storage units)
  1st Reconnaissance (ISTAR) Battalion, Svoboda
  38th NBC Defence Battalion, Musachevo
  CIMIC, PsyOps & Geographical Support Battalion, Sofia
  Land Forces Command Documentation Support Center, Sofia
  Basic Training Center, Pleven
  Specialists Training Center, Sliven
  Drivers and Logistics Specialists Training Center, Ruse 
  Land Forces Training Range "Koren"
  The 61st Mechanised Brigade is earmarked for deployment with the Greek NATO Rapid Deployment Corps for exercises, emergencies and for actions along NATO lines. For that reason the corps has a Bulgarian Major-General as a deputy commander. In addition to its training tasks the Specialists Training Center, Sliven, which is the former 13th Tank Brigade, is the storage facility of the operational reserve of 160 T-72M1 tanks and many other armoured vehicles. The plan for the mechanised brigades is for each of them to have three battalion battlegroups. Although the first three battalion battlegroups are already formed the MoD disclosed very little information about their actual structure. What little is known is, that each of them will have three rifle companies and integral fire and engineer support (including EOD disposal). In addition to that, according to the modular principal of actions the structure is optimised to easily integrate additional supporting units tailored to the actual mission, such as tanks, self-propelled artillery, self-propelled missile air defence units, special forces, heavy engineering, CIMIC etc. Contingency plans envision, that one of the brigades will be fully ready to deploy entirely for operations overseas, while the other, alongside the new Mountain Infantry Regiment, assumes the armed forces' paramount mission of defending the territorial integrity of the country.
caption: Location of Bulgarian Land Forces units
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