Paratroopers from 68th Plovdiv brigade and US airmen landed from Lockheed C-130 Herules aircraft; the first joint landing of army teams took place to the south of the Bulgarian town of Yambol yesterday. It`s a part of Thracian Spring 2008 - an annual bilateral training exercise between the U.S. and Bulgaria providing training and interoperability between the two nations.

Lieutenant-Colonel Petko Lilov, who was second commander of the Bulgarian troops in Karbala several years ago, was in charge of the parachute jump demonstrations while the operation as a whole was headed by Colonel Mihail Popov. The participants in the training are parallelly playing the role of guards of the summit in Biharest, where the 26 NATO heads of states have gathered for a sitting.

Yesterday, C-130 Hercules landing, Bulgarian-piloted SU-25 aircraft flights and paratroopers in action demonstrations were performed near the Yambol village of Okop. The Bulgarian pilots are from the aviation base in Bezmer where the first US troopers are expected to arrive in a few months.