Резюме на български

This monograph pursues two main goals: to facilitate the understanding of the complex process of developing defence capabilities and to present the author’s vision for the development of the Bulgarian Armed Forces in the horizon of 2030-2035.

The monograph presents the main processes leading to the desired future state of the armed forces. The author describes the continuity of the process in a clear and understandable way and emphasizes that it can perform its function only within a comprehensive system, and not as separate, often routinely performed tasks. He underlines that defence policy making and capability development make sense only when they manage to achieve an effect at the lowest level – the combat units’ capabilities.

Since science is not national, but international, it naturally evolves within paradigms set by policy and defence research centres in the leading nations. We must, however, take into account the differences in the application of the basic principles due to differences in scale, geography and national power. Based on the stated general principles, the security environment and the existing objective limitations, the author presents his position on the development of the Bulgaria's defence policy until 2032. The monograph concludes by outlining the necessary changes in the way of managing capability development in order to avoid future conclusions of yet more “lost years” in developing Bulgaria’s defence

This monograph is a sequel of author’s MA theses “Ambitions in the defence policy of the Republic of Bulgaria” (National Defence College “G.S. Rakovski,” 2008), “The Bulgarian Armed Forces as an instrument of national policy in the changing armed conflict”(Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski,” 2009), the PhD thesis “Shaping the Defence Policy of the Republic of Bulgaria (1990-2010)” (National Defence College “G.S. Rakovski,” 2014) and the book “Defence Policy of the Republic of Bulgaria: Critical Analysis” (2020). In this regard, the author expresses his gratitude to his supervisors and reviewers: Prof. Todor Tagarev, Assoc. Prof. Vasil Penev, Prof. Todor Tanev, Prof. Pavel Angelov, Prof. Lidia Velkova and Assoc. Prof. (Col., ret.) Ivan Valkov.

Published in the Security and Defence Management series, no. 8.

The book is currently available in Bulgarian only, in the following formats:

Hardcover, ISBN 978-619-7254-04-4
Online (pdf), ISBN 978-619-7254-05-1