“The maximum amount that Bulgaria will pay for the Stryker armored vehicles will not exceed 1.376 billion dollars. I consider this as a ceiling that we should not exceed.” This was stated by the Minister of Defense Todor Tagarev before the meeting of the parliamentary committee on defense, quoted by BGNES.
According to him, the exact amount that Bulgaria will pay will become clear when the project is finished.
The Cabinet approved the purchase of Stryker from the US
“The contract is in US dollars, and the exchange rate varies. We commit to paying in dollars. Depending on the dollar exchange rate, it can be profitable and not so profitable in our currency”, specified Tagarev.
It is expected that we will make the first installment this year, if everything goes normally and on time. The MPs’ holiday before the local elections may delay the payment of this contribution. The next ones will be until 2027-2028, when we will receive the last machines, explained the Minister of Defense.
He emphasized that the idea for this project is from 2012. “The investment expenditure project is from 2018 – a procedure that has been discontinued. Previous governments have started in two ways – one is to request information from companies producing such technique, in what terms and under what conditions they could deliver them and in parallel with a request to the US. After that, the decision was made by my predecessor to address the so-called letter of request for a draft contract to the US,” said Tagarev.
Bulgaria is one step away from buying new armored personnel carriers from the USA
At the end of August – the beginning of September, they received an answer in a draft version, he said. “This was discussed in a detailed review, a common decision was reached on what is on offer and I trust that MPs will support this choice, as this is about both delivery times and a full package of capabilities – something that we do not we could achieve if we turned to being a manufacturer of armored vehicles only,” he announced.
The Minister of Defense pointed out that the contract, which is currently still a draft, must be signed first, then it must be ratified, as it will be an interstate contract. “A payment has to be made and the first machines will start coming in 2025 or 2026. But in less than 5 years from the activation of the contract, which will be with the first payment until the delivery of the last machines, which is very good term in today’s conditions and for such a volume of equipment as we are talking about,” he added.
The talks are at the intergovernmental level, added Todor Tagarev.
Source bgnes
2023-10-04 14:30:49
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