Bulgarian lawmakers approved the government’s plan to buy fighter jets and warships costing as much as 2.3 billion lev ($1.3 billion), to replace outdated Soviet-era armament as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization increases its defense capability in eastern Europe.
Lawmakers voted 123 to 29 with 4 abstentions to finance the purchase of eight or nine new or used fighter jets worth total of 1.5 billion lev, Speaker Tsetska Tsacheva said in Sofia on Thursday. The assembly also approved a plan to order two new warships estimated at about 820 million lev which are to be paid and delivered by 2021, she said. Eight more aircraft may be purchased by 2023, according to the plan published on parliament’s website.
