Freeing-up production capacity in Bulgaria's ordnance plants and the timeframe for this to happen depend a lot on the manufacturing output, Economy and Industry Minister Bogdan Bogdanov told journalists here on Wednesday. Bogdanov and Defence Minister Todor Tagarev were heard by the Parliamentary Committee on Defence on the National Assembly's decision of December 9, 2022, to provide military and technical support to Ukraine, as well as on the Council of Ministers' decision of March 17, 2022, to mandate the State Consolidation Company and the VMZ Sopot Ordnance Plant with the refurbishment of ammunition stocks stored by the Bulgarian Armed Forces.
In Bogdanov's words, ordnance plants in Bulgaria are currently working at full speed. At the moment, Bulgaria is not fully ready to produce 155-millimeter shells. "Our goal is for Bulgarian enterprises to be able to produce NATO-standard equipment. Well, it is not entirely correct to say NATO-standard. We can produce NATO-standard equipment even now but here we are talking about specific equipment", he said, explaining that this 'specific equipment' is intended for export to the European market.
Answering a question about who will pay for the modernization of the ordnance plants' equipment, Bogdanov said that if Bulgaria prepares projects, it can receive resources from the European Commission. "These projects are being worked on", the minister added.
/KK/
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