site.btaTEREM – Khan Krum Military Repair Plant Seeks to Shift toward NATO-Compatible Military Equipment

The strategic framework for the transformation of the TEREM - Khan Krum plant in Targovishte has been worked out, Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov said during Question Time in Parliament on Friday.

The company specialises in the repair of Soviet-type armoured and other wheeled combat vehicles. The licences the company holds are mainly for the servicing of this type of equipment. In recent years, the number of orders for repair of Soviet-type armoured and other wheeled combat vehicles has significantly decreased in the region, the number of such vehicles operated by the Bulgarian Army and other countries of the former Warsaw Pact has also been decreasing. This has led to a decrease in the volume of work at the plant, the Minister explained.

The plant has been unable to adapt to new realities for the repair of other types of military equipment, the Minister added. “The staff of the plant is mostly at the retirement age, there is a lack of new personnel, the facilities are terribly outdated,” Zapryanov said.

The board of directors of TEREM Holding EAD, a wholly State-owned company that repairs and maintains military equipment, is determined to preserve the capabilities of TEREM - Khan Krum’s capacity to overhaul armoured and automotive equipment, using modern NATO models, the Minister said. “The management of TEREM Holding EAD envisages the development of TEREM - Khan Krum by restoring the serial production of armoured vehicles’ spare parts for which there are markets, optimizing the production processes, working on new NATO model armoured vehicles,” Zapryanov added.

TEREM – Khan Krum has been chosen to assemble the Stryker combat vehicle, the Minister said. Bulgaria is to receive 198 combat and auxiliary vehicles, 183 of them from the Stryker family.

“At this stage we cannot talk about the shutting down of TEREM – Khan Krum, we are talking about its modernization and the assigning of additional tasks to the plant, which will provide work for the employees and revenue to the company,” Zapryanov underscored.