Bulgaria Defense Market - Size and trends, budget allocation, regulations, key acquisitions, competitive landscape and forecast, 2024-2029
Summary
Bulgaria Defense Market - Size and trends, budget allocation, regulations, key acquisitions, competitive landscape and forecast, 2024-2029 report provides the market size forecast and the projected growth rate for the next five years. The report covers industry analysis including the key market drivers, emerging technology trends, and major challenges faced by market participants. It also offers insights regarding key factors and government programs that are expected to influence the demand for military platforms over the forecast period.
Bulgaria’s defense spending, like most other European nations, is set to increase notably compared to recent years as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and the severe political fallout leading to a shifting security landscape on the continent. Whilst spending had fluctuated in the historic 2020-23 period, its low point was $1.1 billion in 2020, but a major uplift agreed in a usually fractious political environment has seen a budget of $2.1 billion set for 2024, to be sustained through 2025, and a GlobalData forecast for continued increases to potentially reach $3.1 billion by 2029 as procurements continue to deliver modernization across the air, land and sea domains.
Specific drivers of this spending include a contract for a further eight F-16s, ongoing and planned programs for replacement frigates, patrol boats, and Stryker armored vehicles, as well as increased commitments to NATO deployments and EU stabilisation and peacekeeping efforts as tensions in Europe rise. A meeting of Bulgaria’s national security council just days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine lamented the poor state of the country’s military capabilities and committed to improvements, and whilst there are aspirations to acquire fleets of modern combat vehicles and improve logistical support capacity, Bulgaria faces significant challenges in maintaining higher levels of spending: corruption issues, political divisions and a struggling and technologically outdated defense industry are all hurdles to overcome before any substantial modernisation may take hold in the Bulgarian defense market. Additionally, spending on major procurement programs often comes in the form of separate votes in the nation’s parliament which may reflect spending coming from the ‘central budget’ rather than the MoD spend, which can further obscure true levels of sustained defense spending.
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