site.btaDefence Ministry Plans Review of Financial Parameters of Investment Cost Projects for Air Force, Navy

Defence Ministry Plans Review of Financial Parameters of Investment Cost Projects for Air Force, Navy

Sofia, June 22 (BTA) - In order to ensure the simultaneous implementation of the three priority rearmament projects, Bulgaria's Defence Ministry is planning a review of the financial parameters of the investment cost projects that have already been adopted by Parliament for the Bulgarian Air Force and the Bulgarian Navy and development of an investment cost project for modernization of the Land Forces, so as to avoid an extra burden on State budget expenditures, reckoning with the country's medium-term financial capabilities, states a report by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Krassimir Karakachanov, which was published on his Ministry's website on Thursday.

The Land Forces investment project covers a period of 12 years, from 2018 to 2029, during which time 198 units of combat and special-purpose materiel and extra equipment for three battalion-size battlegroups are to be procured at the cost of 1,220 million leva.

The report says that the materiel and equipment must be delivered within a shorter period of time (up to seven years), and they must be paid for within financial estimates.

In order to synchronize and promptly implement the two other investment projects: for the acquisition of a new-type combat aircraft for the Air Force and of multi-role modular patrol ships for the Navy, their financial framework and timeframes will have to be revised, and hence the investment cost projects approved by Parliament will have to be modified, the document says. It states the financial estimates for the separate projects which add up to some 3,500 million leva for the period ending 2029.

Under the Air Force modernization project, Bulgaria has planned to buy eight new fighter aircraft at a total cost of 1,500 million leva. Three bids have been submitted so far: for new Gripens (Griffin) from Sweden's Saab, for used Eurofighter Typhoons from Italy, or for used US-made F-16s to be purchased from Portugal. An expert working group has recommended the Swedish offer, and President Rumen Radev (a former Air Force Commander) has backed this option, too, but Prime Minister Boyko Borissov has expressed reservations.

In February 2017, Rear Admiral Mitko Petev, Commander of the Bulgarian Navy, said in a BTA interview that four state-of-the-art patrol craft, equipped with all systems available to NATO: surface-to-air missiles and anti-submarine missiles, were to be acquired for the Navy at the cost of 820 million leva within five to ten years.