site.btaParliamentary Defence Committee Backs Acquisition of Air Defence Missile Systems

Meeting here on Tuesday, the National Assembly Defence Committee voted, 10-0 with 3 abstentions, to support a Government-proposed draft parliamentary resolution on the adoption of an investment expenditure project for the acquisition of two long-range and eight medium-range surface-to-air missile systems.

The first stage of the project will take 39 months after the conclusion of the contract and will cost BGN 356,184,633, the draft says. The subsequent stages will be implemented within a timeframe depending on the available financial resources.

The first stage of the project is to be financed by Bulgaria's defence spending and from amounts compensating donated armaments and equipment that have been received in 2024 and are expected in 2025. To this end, the defence spending levels during the relevant years must ensure the requisite financial resources including both the prices stated in the contracts and expenditures on VAT, customs duties and freight.

The acquisition of these assets will contribute to building and maintaining additional capabilities for protection, defence and control of airspace and maritime space, for missions for protection against air strikes on the country's strategic installations and critical infrastructure facilities, and a possibility to include them in the NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defence System.

In 2023, Bulgaria's Council of Ministers adopted a decision approving the draft Memorandum of Understanding on the purchase of common ground-based air defence (GBAD) systems within the framework of the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI), the reasons to the draft say. In this connection, Bulgarian and German defence ministries' officials held meetings between July 22 and 24, 2024 with German company Diehl Defence executives regarding an acquisition of IRIS-T surface-to-air missile systems within the framework of the ESSI Initiative.

The purpose of the meetings was to concur on the wording of a draft Programme Agreement between the two countries' defence ministries and a draft addendum to the existing supply contract with Diehl Defence for the acquisition of IRIS-T air defence missile systems.   

In the course of the discussions after clarifications by the German side, the Bulgarian side declared an intent to purchase one medium-range IRIS-T SLM system at the cost of BGN 356,184,633. An additional provision was made for the purchase of up to five IRIS-T SLMs and one long-range IRIS-T SLX system, and prices for them were quoted until 2032.