Bulgarian missiles to be destroyed. (Washington Pulse).

Bulgaria, an applicant for NATO membership, recently hired a Phoenix, Maryland-based company, Controlled Demolition Inc., to destroy approximately 100 Soviet-bloc era missiles, according to Bulgarian defense officials.

The missiles--short- and middle-range SS-23s, Scuds, and Frogs--will be destroyed by late October, prior to November's NATO summit in Prague, during which membership for Bulgaria, as well as nine other central and southeastern European nations, will be considered. NATO'S membership action plan requires the countries to retire Cold War equipment and weapons.

This is the first time that missiles will be destroyed inside Bulgaria. "Bulgaria doesn't have a big empty space like the Nevada desert," said Maj. Gen. Orlin Marintchev, Bulgaria's defense attache to the United States. The villages surrounding the military range where the demolition is to rake place are approximately 5 kilometers away, he said. Many Bulgarians feared that missile demolition could possibly cause an earthquake or environmental damage, so an independent expert commission of Bulgarian scientists was set up to assess possible damage to the environment, particularly in the destruction of the 24 SS-23 missiles. These weapons have a powerful rocker attached to them, which carry solid fuel cells. That was the reason why Controlled Demolition Inc. was hired, Marintchev said.

Bulgaria is the last former Soviet Bloc country to destroy its SS-23 missiles. The Czech Republic, Germany, Russia and Slovakia have already destroyed their SS-23s, according to Stanimir Ilchev, head of the Bulgarian Parliament's national security committee.