A cyber defence and management centre has opened in Sofia, the US Embassy in Bulgaria announced. 

Defence Minister Todor Tagarev attended the ceremony. The project, valued at $12 million, is funded through the U.S. State Department's Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program and delivered through the U.S. Department of Defence's Foreign Military Sales program. It will be used as a hub for cyber-defence training and operations, providing advanced training and education to Bulgarian military personnel and equipping them with the skills and knowledge needed to deter, detect, and defend against cyber-attacks.

The United States has also provided more than $238 million in security assistance to Bulgaria over the last five years to increase military professionalization, human resources capabilities, cyber security, equipment modernisation, maritime domain awareness, and NATO interoperability. Additionally, from 2017 to 2022 the Department allocated more than $58 million in FMF to enhance Bulgaria’s capabilities in the areas of military intelligence, secure communications, and defensive cyber security, the U.S. Embassy in Sofia recalled.