The US State Department has agreed to a potential Foreign Military Sales agreement that will offer Bulgaria’s Armed Forces 218 FGM-148F Javelin missiles and associated equipment.

Valued at $114m (Lv200.6m), the order will bolster the ground strike capabilities of a US ally and member of Nato and the European Union.

Javelin is a portable anti-tank weapon developed by a joint venture (JV) of defence companies, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, named the Javelin JV.

It is said the proposed sale will improve Bulgaria’s long-term capacity to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity and to meet its national defence requirements. The urgency for many European countries – especially for Eastern nations such as Bulgaria, next to the Black Sea – is the threat posed by Russia following its unlawful invasion of Ukraine that began more than two and a half years ago.

US and coalition forces have conducted more than 5,000 engagements with the Javelin weapon system in Afghanistan and Iraq. Even now, in an era of peer-on-peer conflict, the system has been used extensively by Ukrainian troops against Russian tanks and armoured vehicles. US forces will continue to use the Javelin until 2050.

Bulgarian Armed Forces structure

Joining Nato in 2007, Bulgaria seeks to reform its military away from a Soviet model towards a Western doctrine centered on combined arms manoeuvre warfare. Its previous position as a major arms producer in the Warsaw Pact has allowed it to man and equip two mechanised brigades as its primary formations.

The Bulgarian Armed Forces have key capability goals including the acquisition of new armoured vehicles, new multi-role combat aircraft, modular patrol vessels, 3D radars, Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles. 

Previously, the US has agreed to support Bulgaria’s Western tilt with US government approval of its acquisition of Stryker combat vehicles this time last year and the procurement of F-16C/D Block 70 fighter aircraft in April 2022.

Strengthening the ‘Bucharest Nine’

The Javelin deal comes five days after the ‘Bucharest Nine’ met to discuss ways to execute plans that came out of the Nato Summit in Washington during the summer.

This regional organisation was established in November 2015 following Russia’s aggressive behaviour after its annexation of Crimea in 2014. The group includes Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

The focus of the talks centred on implementing plans made at the Washington Summit regarding the defence of the alliance’s Eastern flank and ensuring collective readiness and resilience against potential threats.

Among the plans agreed upon, members reiterated the significance of Nato Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU), a new command established to oversee training the Ukrainian troops, long-term development of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, and to coordinating donations to the war-torn nation.

Crucially, defence ministers shared a common understanding that resilience rested on supporting Nato’s most vulnerable partners for the security of the entire Euro-Atlantic area.