Boris Johnson Prepares Planes for Bulgaria and an Elite Ship in the Black Sea

The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce today that his country is proposing to strengthen NATO's eastern flank, including sending Typhoon fighter jets to patrol the airspace of Bulgaria and Romania. They will operate from Cyprus, where there are two British airbases.

Part of the package, which includes London's demonstration of solidarity in the alliance amid growing tensions over Russia's military around Ukraine, includes doubling the British military in the Baltic republics and deploying one of the world's most modern air and missile defense ships

Representatives of the Ministry of Defense will travel to Brussels this week to finalize the details, according to the British press. There are currently more than 900 troops in Estonia, about 100 in Ukraine and 150 in Poland from rapid reaction motorized infantry units. Instructors are stationed in Ukraine, and the country receives more than 2,000 anti-tank missiles from Britain.

Measures that are expected to be officially announced include:

• doubling up to 2,300 people on NATO's northern and southern flanks (1,000 likely to be stationed in Estonia)
• Typhoon Squadron - (usually it has 12 multi-purpose aircraft of the fourth generation, a variant of Eurofighter, it is not clear how many of them will be for the skies of Romania and Bulgaria
• ship Type 45 in the Black Sea
• patrol ship in the Black Sea
• Apache helicopters in the Baltic republics
• battery with missile systems in Estonia
• The Prince of Wales aircraft carrier, part of NATO's Arctic Rapid Reaction Force, is ready to move quickly to the region.

"We have ordered our armed forces to prepare for deployment in Europe to ensure that we...