The "BREEZE" exercise, now in its 27th edition, is a "maritime-focused" tactical training event with multinational participation, planned and carried out annually in the Black Sea by the Bulgarian Navy with the aim of training commanders and staff embarked on the management of crisis situations - characterized by the presence of conventional and asymmetric threats - through the execution of serial activities in the main forms of struggle - integrated by events to prevent and combat illicit trafficking at sea - framed in the context of a Maritime Security Operation (MSO).
The persistent geopolitical situation in the Black Sea - determined by the conflict in Ukraine, with the subsequent impossibility for NATO naval assets to transit the Turkish Straits, has seen the training scope of the event reduced, which was developed mainly with the participation of Bulgarian Naval Units and Romanian, and three non-riparian MPAs (FRA, TUR, USA).
For the first time, a new NATO exercise scenario, called "OCCASUS", was used.
BREEZE 2023 was coordinated and conducted from the Varna naval base and took place in the Bulgarian territorial waters, contiguous zone and exclusive economic zone in the period 13 – 22 October. The national participation profile consisted of support activities in the EXCON context, with the use of the V-RMTC asset operated by two non-commissioned officers from CINCNAV and the national military representative at the Bulgarian SMM.
