site.btaBulgaria to Invest EUR 182 Mln in One IRIS-T SLM Air Defence System, Parliament Resolves

Bulgaria's Parliament on Thursday voted, 133-46 with 2 abstentions, to pass a resolution on an investment expenditure of BGN 356,184,633 (EUR 182,114,311) on the purchase of one medium-range IRIS-T SLM surface-to-air missile system.

An additional provision is made for the purchase of up to five IRIS-T SLMs and one long-range IRIS-T SLX system. 

The reasons to the resolution point out that the threats arising from the volatile security environment presuppose an enhancement of the requirements to the air defence systems with regard to building and maintaining capabilities to guarantee the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity. This necessitates the participation of the air defence elements in the NATO and EU Integrated Air and Missile Defence System. To accomplish its air defence mission assignments, the Bulgarian Air Force must have state-of-the-art system meeting the new challenges. The implementation of the project for the acquisition of air defence missile systems improves the capabilities of the air defence to impact both manned and unmanned air offensive means possessing state-of-the-art flying and combat capabilities. The reasons point out that the implementation of the project would lead to the acquisition of multichannel anti-aircraft missile systems, which will increase manifold the possibilities to deter air offensive means of various classes and types.