site.btaBulgarian Company to Supply 98 Armoured Vehicles to Special Operations Forces

December 8 (BTA) - Bulgaria's Special Operations Forces
(SOF) will acquire 98 combat vehicles of ten types at the cost
of 49,998,000 leva. The materiel will be supplied by the
Bulgarian manufacturer Samel-90 under a contract signed here on
Tuesday by Defence Minister Krassimir Karakachanov and Samel-90
Executive Director Peter Georgiev, Karakachanov's Ministry said
in a press release.

Supply will start in mid-2021 and must be completed within three
 years. Samel-90, which is based in Samokov (Southwestern
Bulgaria), will maintain the vehicles and replace consumables
during a five-year warranty period. The ten types of combat and
specialized vehicles with off-road capability and various
degrees of protection will ensure SOF's personnel mobility when
performing missions across the spectrum and in combating
terrorism. The combat vehicles come complete with automatically
controlled weapons.

Repairs will be carried out at a technical centre to be set up
in Plovdiv (South Central Bulgaria), where most of SOF's
elements are based. The centre will be manned by enlarging the
SOF's logistics battalion.

Karakachanov said the signing of the treaty was "yet another
useful step towards enhancing the Armed Forces' capabilities.
The Special Forces will acquire new equipment which will enable
them to be much more effective and useful in defending
Bulgaria's sovereignty and territorial integrity and in
performing the rest of their missions as part of their
constitutional duties."

The Defence Minister also said: "This is a patriotic deed - in
addition to enhancing the capabilities of our Special Forces, we
 are supporting the Bulgarian economy on Bulgarian taxpayers'
money rather than letting it be drained somewhere abroad and
having Bulgaria regarded as a colony that is supposed to import
everything."

Karakachanov said it makes sense to develop capabilities in
Bulgaria, which ensures more affordable maintenance and repairs.
 
Georgiev said Samel-90 sells its products to some 30 countries
around the world, but this is the first order placed by the
Bulgarian Armed Forces in nearly 15 years.

Major General Yavor Mateev, Commander of the Joint Special
Operations Command, said this is a "historic moment" for the
SOF, adding that "this is the first contract of such a scope and
 future importance for SOF's operational capabilities and for
the fulfilment of our core responsibilities under the National
Plan for Combating Terrorism".

The Chief of Defence, Admiral Emil Eftimov, and the Deputy
Chiefs of Defence, Lieutenant General Dimiter Iliev and
Lieutenant General Tsanko Stoykov, along with Deputy Defence
Ministers Atanas Zapryanov and Anatoliy Velichkov, also attended
 the signing ceremony. RI/DD

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