A US military transport plane, a Boeing C-17A Globemaster III, landed at Sarafovo airport in Burgas today, 21 October, according to data from a global live flight-tracking service.

The plane flew from Beersheba in Israel, crossed the Mediterranean and touched down just after 12:00 Bulgarian time.

The same day, the Bulgarian air force stepped up its watch over the Black Sea. The Defence Ministry earlier said crews of four types of aircraft – F-16, MiG-29, Su-25 and L-39 – are patrolling, monitoring and gathering intelligence in the airspace over Bulgaria's territorial waters.

Bulgarian pilots will keep flying over the Black Sea in the coming days, the ministry said.

South of Beersheba, in the Negev desert, lies Israel's Mashabim air force base. It hosts the first permanent US military presence in Israel.

Not far from the base is the air defence school of the IDF, the usual short name for the Israel Defense Forces.