NATO members hold air force exercise in Bulgaria

Graf Ignatievo (

), May 30: The

members conducted their air force exercise in Bulgarian village of Graf Ignatievo, about 10 km from country's second largest city of Plovdiv, on Thursday.

The military exercise, codenamed "Thracian Star 2014", was joined by three European countries and the US as it held its Open Day here.

Over 30 warplanes and 800 servicemen from the US, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria, participate in this year's largest NATO exercise in Bulgaria from May 25 to June 4, Xinhua reported.

The drill includes tasks such as jet fighters fighting, overcoming air defense, and flights of joint Bulgarian-American crews.

The main objective of the joint flight exercise is to increase interoperability among the Air Forces of the participating countries and improve readiness for work in international environment.

IANS