Bulgaria’s National Assembly approves deal with US on 118M leva for ammo for Strykers
Bulgaria’s National Assembly voted on August 8 to ratify an international agreement with the United States for $64.8 million – rendered in parliamentary committee reports as more than 188 million leva – for ammunition for the Stryker armoured combat vehicles that Bulgaria is to acquire.
The vote was 119 in favour and 47 against with no abstentions.
Votes in favour came from GERB-UDF, We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and ITN, as well as 14 MPs who are not members of a parliamentary group.
The votes against came from pro-Kremlin Vuzrazhdane and the Bulgarian Socialist Party, as well as from six MPs not members of a parliamentary group.
Those against advanced claims including that the Strykers are outmoded, the ammunition deal should have gone to Bulgarian manufacturers, that the Strykers are not suitable for European conditions and that the deal with the US represented a “loss of sovereignty”.
These claims were dismissed by supporters of the ratification, who pointed out, among other things, that Bulgarians arms plants were not attuned to manufacturing the ammunition required and doing so would require applying for a manufacturing licence and re-orientating their production process.
The international agreement was signed in the US and Bulgaria in May and June 2024, respectively, and tabled in Parliament by the caretaker government on July 26.
The payment scheme involves an initial deposit of $1.44 million and then annual instalments from 2025 to 2028, the latter the period in which deliveries of the ammunition are scheduled to take place.
Bulgaria’s Cabinet approved in December 2023 the first payment of $263 million of the $1.2 billion purchase price for 193 US-made Stryker armoured combat vehicles.
The December 6 decision by the Cabinet followed the Bulgaria’s Parliament’s ratification of the contract for the Strykers five days earlier.
The contract “Procurement of Stryker combat vehicles” was signed on November 17 2023 by the Director of the Armaments Policy Directorate of the Ministry of Defence on the basis of a Bulgarian Cabinet decision at a meeting on November 1 2023 and a decision by the US side.
The contract provides for the acquisition of 198 combat, reconnaissance and command and staff vehicles, special vehicles for nuclear, chemical and biological reconnaissance, for medical evacuation, for engineering support, transport and evacuation vehicles.
The time frame for production and delivery of the machines is approximately 36 months from the award of the production contract by the US Army.
The start of deliveries is scheduled for the third quarter of 2025, and the final delivery for the first quarter of 2028. The main amount of combat and auxiliary vehicles will be delivered in 2026 and 2027, with a delivery rate of 10 vehicles a month, Bulgaria’s Defence Ministry said at the time.
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