site.btaUPDATED 2025 Expected to See Rise in Servicepersons' Wages, Acquisition of Armed Forces Materiel

In the field of defence, 2025 is expected to see a rise in Bulgarian servicepersons' wages and the acquisition of eight F-16 fighter aircraft for the Air Force, an initial batch of Stryker combat vehicles for the Land Forces and the first multipurpose patrol vessel for the Navy.

Servicepersons' wages

Beginning on January 1, 2025, the monthly base wage for the lowest military rank will be set at the beginning of every year based on the average wage in Bulgaria in the second quarter of the previous year. The monthly wage for commissioned officers will be at least 1.2 times the base level. The decision was made by the National Assembly in April 2024. As of the start of 2025, the lowest monthly base wage for the military will be between BGN 2,300 and BGN 2,370, according to caretaker Minister of Defence Atanas Zapryanov. However, the National Assembly is yet to adopt the state budget for 2025. "We are working to ensure that under the new defence budget, regardless of the disputes about it, servicepersons get a decent wage increase as envisioned in the amendments to the Defence and Armed Forces Act," Zapryanov said on December 18 during a year-end videoconference with the national commanders of the Bulgarian military units in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Iraq.

F-16 Block 70 fighter jets

Bulgaria will receive eight F-16 Block 70 fighter aircraft in 2025, Defence Minister Zapryanov said earlier this year. The first two of them will arrive between late March and early April. The whole batch will be in the country by the end of the third quarter. All necessary pilots have been sent to receive training. Some of them failed and came back, but their training continues. A trained instructor is already available in Bulgaria. "We hope to have enough pilots by the time the first eight planes arrive," Zapryanov said. In a statement on December 18, the Defence Minister said that Bulgaria had sent 18 pilots to the United States to be trained to fly F-16 fighters, and two of them had finished the main training course. Overall, Bulgaria expects to acquire sixteen F-16 Block 70 fighters under agreements with the US.

Stryker combat vehicles

On December 1, 2023, the National Assembly ratified an agreement on the acquisition of Stryker vehicles. Bulgaria will acquire 198 combat, reconnaissance and command staff vehicles, special vehicles for nuclear, chemical and biological reconnaissance, for medical evacuation and engineering support, and transport and evacuation vehicles. The total number includes 183 combat vehicles of the Stryker family. Deliveries are planned to begin in the third quarter of 2025 and to end in the first quarter of 2028. The main part of the batch will be delivered in 2026 and 2027 at a rate of 10 vehicles per month, the Defence Committee in the National Assembly said in a report.

A multipurpose patrol vessel

The first of two newly built multipurpose patrol vessels will be added to the Navy fleet towards the close of 2025, the Navy Commander, Rear Admiral Kiril Mihailov, said in early August. A second one will be available by the beginning of 2027. The two frigates are called, respectively, Hrabri and Smeli.