Bulgarian Land Forces

Bulgarian Land Force
Сухопътни войски на България
The war flag of the Bulgarian land forces
Founded	1878
Country	Bulgaria
Type	Army
Size	17,000 active personnel[1]
Part of	Bulgarian Armed Forces
Garrison/HQ	Sofia
Patron	Saint George
March	Great is our Soldier
Anniversaries	6 May
Website	landforce.armf.bg
Commanders
Minister of Defence	Atanas Zapryanov
Commander of the Land Forces	Major General Deyan Deshkov
Insignia
Emblem

The Bulgarian Land Forces (Bulgarian: Сухопътни войски на България, romanized: Sukhopŭtni voĭski na Bŭlgariya, lit. 'Ground Forces of Bulgaria') are the ground warfare branch of the Bulgarian Armed Forces. It is administered by the Ministry of Defence, previously known as the Ministry of War during the Kingdom of Bulgaria. The Land Forces were established in 1878, when they were composed of anti-Ottoman militia (opalchentsi) and were the only branch of the Bulgarian military.

The Land Forces were made up of conscripts throughout most of Bulgaria's history. During World War I, it fielded more than one million troops out of Bulgaria's total population of around four million. Two-year conscription was obligatory during Communism (1946–1990), but its term was reduced in the 1990s. Conscription for all branches was terminated in 2008; since then, the Land Forces are a volunteer force. Bulgarian Land Forces troops are deployed on peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.

Since 2004, the Land Forces are in a process of continued restructuring. Under the most recent reform, brigades were reduced to regiments, while several garrisons and brigades were disbanded.