Bulgaria to procure two combat ships
06th April 2016 - 10:36 by Alex Mladenov & Krassimir Grozev in Sofia
The Bulgarian government has approved an investment project to fund the procurement of two corvette-sized combat ships for the Bulgarian Navy.
The hulls are likely to be built in Bulgaria while the equipment and weapons will be provided by selected vendors from NATO countries. According to the Bulgarian defence minister, Nikolay Nenchev, the project will cost Euro 419 million and is expected to be put to parliament for approval at the end of May.
There is little information about the specification of the ships and their armaments but Bulgarian Navy sources have already hinted that the displacement will be around 1,500t. The armament is expected to include anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles, while each of the ships should sport a landing pad suitable to house one AS365MB Panther helicopter operated by the Bulgarian Navy’s air arm.
Nenchev claimed that a contract for the construction of the two ships could be inked this year.
This first of the vessels should be completed within four years, followed by the second one two years later. Both ships would be declared combat-ready within five to six years after contract signature.
The only shipbuilder capable to deal with combat ships in Bulgaria is MTG Dolphin, based in the city of Varna near the Black Sea coast. Between 2010 and 2012 the company built one patrol ship and one frigate, originally designed in Ukraine, which were then sold out to Equatorial Guinea.
This is not the first attempt Bulgaria to start a modernization of its aging naval fleet. In 2006 the Bulgarian MoD selected French company Armaris, a joint venture between DCN and Thales (now the company is known as the DCNS) as a contractor to supply four Gowind 200-class corvettes at a total price of Euro 900 million, with hulls to be built under license in Bulgaria.
In the event, the Bulgarian government declined to ink the contract due to the lack of funds and in 2009 formally terminated the project.
Today the Bulgarian Navy has a fleet with three ex-Belgian Navy frigates of Wielingen-class (pictured above), of which two are in active service and one currently used for spares. In addition, one Russian-made Koni-class frigate, one Tarantul-class missile corvette and two Pauk-class patrol corvettes make up the bulk of the fleet.
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