site.btaParliament Approves Bill Ratifying Acquisition Order for New Three-Dimensional Radars

Parliament on Thursday passed at both first and second reading in a single sitting a bill ratifying an Acquisition Order under the Framework Agreement between Bulgaria's Ministry of Defence and France's Ministry of the Armed Forces, through the Directorate General of Armaments (DGA), for the implementation of the project "Acquisition of New Three-Dimensional Radars". The bill was supported by 151 MPs from Progressive Bulgaria, GERB-UDF, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, and Democratic Bulgaria, while six Vazrazhdane MPs voted against.

The project envisages the acquisition of seven new three-dimensional radars, communication and cryptographic equipment, and the integration of hardware and software into the Bulgarian Air Force's command and control system. The entire project will be implemented through the Acquisition Order and the accompanying contract.

The defence products and services to be provided include seven Ground Master 400 Alpha 3D radars with local and remote control consoles (seven consoles in total); four additional remote control consoles; training in France for up to six operators and six technicians; radar maintenance toolkits; a one-year warranty from the date of delivery of the radars to Bulgaria; spare parts for five years; the capability for the radars to operate from trucks (mobile tactical version); and Mode 5 IFF certification.

According to the explanatory memorandum submitted by the Council of Ministers, implementation of the radar project will enhance Bulgaria's capability to conduct effective and continuous airspace surveillance. The project will also fulfil NATO requirements for establishing primary radar coverage within Bulgaria's area of responsibility for detecting, tracking and identifying aircraft flying above 3,000 metres above sea level, as well as for generating the Recognized Air Picture to support the Alliance's Air Policing mission.

Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said the three-dimensional radars were also necessary to guarantee Bulgaria's national sovereignty and airspace. He noted that the country's existing radars, although many of them had been digitized, had exceeded their service life by three times and had become extremely difficult - almost impossible - to maintain, which was why the project had been submitted.

Vazrazhdane MP Ivelin Parvanov argued that Bulgaria had gone into debt in order to borrow money for foreign companies and foreign economies. He questioned whether this was the right time for Bulgaria to once again become "a donor to the developed colonial empires."

Responding to the criticism, Stoyanov said that when the procurement procedure was launched in 2022, no Bulgarian company produced such radars. He acknowledged that Bulgaria was taking out a loan and that the funds would go to foreign suppliers, but questioned why the country had failed to take advantage of the SAFE mechanism. Had Bulgaria proposed eligible domestic companies under the mechanism, it could have purchased their products instead, he argued, adding that "someone was asleep" and had failed to support the Bulgarian defence industry.