SOFIA, April 16 (Xinhua) -- An 11-day European military transport aviation flight exercise, involving four countries and two European institutions, kicked off in Bulgaria on Monday, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

Spartan and Hercules aircraft, crews and military personnel from Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland and Romania, and servicemen from the Netherlands, the European Tactical Airlift Center and the European Air Transport Command, would take part in the drill codenamed ETAP-C 18-2, the statement said.

The flight exercise, which would be conducted at the airfields in Plovdiv and Bezmer, the Air Force Training Range -- Elena and the airfields near the villages of Cheshnegirovo and Chernogorovo, is a part of the official calendar of events under the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) this half-year, the statement said.

During the drill, the participants would perform tasks such as low and extremely low altitude flights, airborne drops, simulated airborne drops and overcoming air defense, as well as tactical landings and dirt strip landing and take-off, the statement said.

"The basic goals of Bulgarian Air Force's participation in the exercise will be to achieve higher interoperability with respect to taking part in multinational operations with allies, as well as to enhance the theoretical, tactical-special and flight preparation in fulfilling transport tasks," the statement said.

Bulgaria is a member of the EU since 2007.