Bulgarian government approves $1.37 billion Stryker order

WARSAW, Poland — Bulgarian Defense Minister Todor Tagarev has announced the country’s government has approved the planned purchase of Stryker combat vehicles from the United States for about $1.37 billion. The move suggests Sofia’s declared plan to negotiate a lower price tag could be considered successful.

“When we make the first payments, the contract will go into force. From there, we are talking about deliveries starting in two years, and the contract being completed within three years,” Tagarev said during a Bulgarian military event on Sept. 22., as quoted in a ministry statement.

Earlier this month, the top official announced the country’s authorities were making efforts to negotiate a lower price in the potential deal to buy 183 combat vehicles than the $1.5 billion estimate published by the U.S. government. However, on Sept. 22, Tagarev did not disclose the proposed scope of the contract or the number of Strykers to be delivered to the Bulgarian Armed Forces.

Following the Cabinet’s decision to approve the planned procurement, a legislative proposal concerning the acquisition and its cost will be submitted to the National Assembly, Bulgaria’s unicameral parliament. The minister said he is expecting the country’s lawmakers to approve legislation, after which the contract will be signed and subsequently ratified by the National Assembly.

The vehicles are manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems.

“This project is important not only so that we can merge three mechanized battalion battlegroups into one brigade, but also to have interoperable equipment allowing us to join all the alliance initiatives intended for our defense,” Tagarev said.

Bulgaria’s coalition government holds 132 out of the 240 seats in the country’s parliament, which means the spending measure is likely to be approved by the required majority of lawmakers.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——保加利亚国防部长托多尔·塔加列夫宣布，保加利亚政府已批准向美国购买价值约13.7亿美元的“斯特瑞克”装甲车。此举表明，索非亚此前宣布的降低采购价格的计划可能已经成功。

据国防部声明援引塔加列夫在9月22日保加利亚军事活动上的讲话称：“当我们支付首付款时，合同将生效。从那时起，我们计划两年内开始交付，并在三年内完成合同。”

本月初，保加利亚最高官员宣布，该国当局正努力就购买183辆战车的潜在交易进行谈判，以期将价格降至低于美国政府公布的15亿美元估价。然而，9月22日，塔加列夫并未透露合同的拟议范围，也未透露将向保加利亚武装部队交付多少辆“斯特瑞克”战车。

内阁批准采购计划后，一份关于采购及其成本的立法提案将提交保加利亚国民议会（保加利亚一院制议会）。部长表示，他预计国民议会将批准该立法，之后合同将签署，并最终由国民议会批准。

这些车辆由通用动力陆地系统公司制造。

“这个项目意义重大，不仅在于我们可以将三个机械化营战斗群合并成一个旅，还在于我们可以拥有可互操作的装备，从而能够参与所有旨在保卫我们国家的联盟倡议，”塔加列夫说。

保加利亚联合政府在议会 240 个席位中占据 132 个席位，这意味着这项支出措施很可能获得议员所需的多数票通过。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。