Italian soldiers in Bulgaria: 'Enhanced training, ready for any eventuality'

First the Centaur armoured cars move in, then the Arrow guns, which fire and fall back; then the Aries counter-attack; from above, a Raven ('the crow' of military drones) monitors the situation; the Bersaglieri clear the area. 120 millimetre ammunition reaches the targets. Intense training and manoeuvres for 740 Italian soldiers from the NATO base in Novo Selo, who take turns every six months in Bulgaria's main polygon (144 square kilometres). Simulations, but the Black Sea is less than 100 kilometres away: the 'eastern flank of the Alliance', the one considered most at risk from Russian threats. According to the CIA files, President Putin will target the Baltic countries after Ukraine. "In the last few months we have strengthened our training", explains Colonel Mattia Scirocco, commander of the multinational Battlegroup, "We are ready for any eventuality in the event that there is a rise in the threat on the eastern European flank".

Esercitazioni di mezzi italiani nel poligono di Novo Selo in Bulgaria

Since 2022, the Italian contingent has been the largest in this American base of the Atlantic Alliance because we are the 'framework nation' of the NATO Forward Land Forces, one of eight battalions set up throughout eastern Europe, from Estonia in the north to Bulgaria in the south, to demonstrate NATO's capacity and determination to respond to potential threats on its borders. Alongside Italy, there are a hundred soldiers from Bulgaria, then North Macedonia, Romania, Montenegro, Greece, Albania and Turkey. Two hundred means are at their disposal.

"These particular polygons are the best opportunity to train together, to align technical-tactical procedures and to achieve the set objectives,' adds the commander. 'They also allow us to carry out training activities with Romania where our higher command is located (and where there is a French-led battlegroup) and other activities that could not be done in Italy.

Un soldato comanda un minirobot nel controllo di un'area pericolosa

Integration with the Armed Forces of other Allied countries to increase deterrence and defence: "Deterrence consists of showing what the armies of the NATO countries can do," continued the commander after witnessing the shots fired by the Panzerhaubitze and VBM bearers and watching a dozen of his men clearing a building, "The ultimate goal is the defence of the territory of the NATO countries: our posture is exclusively defensive, proportionate and consistent with international commitments.

Tiratori scelti delle Nato Forward Land Forces in fase di addestramento

In less than two months it will once again be time for the changing of the guard for the more than 700 Italians from Novo Selo who will make way for just as many colleagues, in what will be the seventh cycle of training at the Bulgarian base.