April 3, 2025 April 17, 2025

U.S. Embassy Sofia Helps Bulgaria Welcome its First F-16

April 3, 2025 — Bulgaria’s first F-16 landed on Wednesday afternoon at the Third Fighter Air Base at Graf Ignatievo. With Prime Minister Rossen Jeliazkov, Defense Minister Atanas Zapryanov, Chief of Defense Admiral Emil Eftimov, and U.S. Chargé D’Affaires Susan Falatko in attendance, the aircraft touched down at 14:29. The aircraft had departed the Lockheed Martin assembly facility in Greenville, South Carolina, on March 31. A Tennessee State Air National Guard KC-135 tanker provided aerial refueling services en route, with representatives of the Tennessee National Guard – Bulgaria’s counterpart in the State Partnership Program – on board the tanker.

Aug. 9, 2021

Georgia National Guard partners with Marietta Fire Department to train country of Georgia

The Marietta, Ga. Fire Department traveled to the country of Georgia, located in the Black Sea Region, to partner and train Georgian Emergency Management Services in Swift-Water Rescue techniques at Borjomi, Georgia, from July 26 to August 6, 2021. The course trains students in lifesaving methods in a flood or swift waters caused by heavy rains, hurricanes, or other natural disasters.

May 17, 2021

Guatemala, Arkansas National Guard partnership growing together

North Little Rock, Ark. — The Arkansas National Guard and its State Partnership Program counterpart, Guatemala, resumed face-to-face exchanges May 12-15 here after a year of virtual exchanges due to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. Led by Maj. Gen. Walfre Omar Carranza Espana, the Guatemalan chief of defense, the six-person delegation toured Arkansas National Guard facilities at Robinson Maneuver Training Center in North Little Rock, Ark., and the 189th Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville, Ark.