The country is set to sign new military agreements with the US after parliament approved a $1.3 billion purchase of 193 Stryker infantry fighting vehicles and expects to buy 3D radars for combat aircraft for another $200 million, according to Euractiv.
The parliamentary parties GERB, PP-DB and DPS supported the decision on the Stryker infantry fighting vehicles, whereas the parties Vazrazhdane, BSP and ITN opposed it.
Bulgaria will be able to equip a mechanised land forces brigade with the purchase, fulfilling one of the country’s commitments to NATO. The deal had previously been stalled for political reasons for almost a decade.
The leader of the Vazrazhdane party, Kostadin Kostadinov, criticised the deal, claiming Bulgaria was buying an outdated Stryker model used by the US Marine Corps and already out of production. However, Defence Minister Todor Tagarev questioned his claim.
I have access to classified reports. What Mr. Kostadinov said, I can’t find it in these reports.
Tagarev added that a Regional Centre for repair and maintenance of Stryker vehicles is going to be built in Bulgaria. Maintenance as well as partial production of such vehicles will also be carried out there.
If the signing of the contract is not delayed, deliveries of the vehicles will begin as early as the third quarter of 2025, with the last machines due to arrive in early 2028. In addition, it was revealed on Tuesday that the financial part of the tenders for new 3D radars for the Air Force would be opened by the end of the year.
Proposals from five companies, US Lockheed Martin, Italian Leonardo, Israeli Elta, Spanish Indra, and French Thales, were publicly disclosed in August, but the opening of price bids was postponed.
The project has been years in the making; it is crucial for the defence of Bulgaria’s airspace and the use of the recently acquired F-16 Block 70 fighter jets.
The project is valued at about $250 million. A deal worth more than $2.1 billion to purchase fighter jets from a US manufacturer suggests that this company is likely to be the favourite for the deal.
