In 1982 the 18th Fighter Air Regiment's 3rd Squadron was disbanded. This unit has for long time been the air defence force's operational training unit for fighter pilots. The tactics needed for air defence tasks were obtained by the newly formed pilots and a required number of flight hours was achieved by them before transferring to a front-line squadron of the 1st or 2nd Air Defence Divisions. The same year 8 MiG-23MLAs were received by the 1st Squadron, this new variant being able to fire R-24 advanced BVR-missiles. At the end of 1991 the last MiG-23s being acquired by Bulgaria were delivered to Dobroslavtsi. Those were second-hand MLDs of the specially developed sub-variant for countering the F-15s and F-16s. The five units saw action in Afghanistan and came from the 168th Fighter Air Regiment of the Soviet Airforce at Starokonstantinov, modern Ukraine. That was part of a deal, struck with Moscow for the 3 remaining Bulgarian MiG-25s.