A military exercise, codenamed "Thracian Star 2014", joined by three European countries and the Unite States, held its Open Day here on Thursday.

More than 30 warplanes and 800 servicemen from the United States, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria, participate in this year's largest NATO exercise in Bulgaria from May 25 to June 4.

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.

Bulgarian Defense Minister Angel Naydenov and Commander of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe General Frank Gorenc attended the Open Day event.

Participants have demonstrated what has to be done to develop very successful NATO air forces, on which both the United States and NATO can rely on, Gorenc said.

The United States and Bulgaria, a NATO member since 2004, signed an agreement in 2006, allowing U.S. troops to be deployed in four locations in Bulgaria, and since then every year the U.S. and Bulgarian soldiers have worked and trained together at the joint training facilities of Graf Ignatievo, Bezmer and Novo Selo. Endi

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