The Bulgarian government and the German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall announced on Tuesday that they had signed an agreement to establish a joint venture in Bulgaria on construction of a plant where gunpowder and artillery shells will be produced. TASR informs about it according to the report of the AFP agency. According to the Bulgarian government, it is the planned plant is one of the largest investments in the country’s arms industry and will also contribute to the efforts of the European Union and NATO to strengthen the autonomy of European defense.
Based on the contract signed by the Bulgarian government and the Rheinmetall company, the Bulgarian state arms manufacturer VMZ and the German company agreed to build a factory in the Bulgarian city of Sopot. The factory will be used for the production of gunpowder, 155 mm caliber artillery shells and modular cartridge systems.
Both companies plan to invest more than one billion euros in construction. The plant should be commissioned within 14 months. “In Bulgaria, we will produce 150,000 modular cartridges… and approximately 100,000 pieces of 155 mm caliber grenades (per year) for Bulgaria, but also for export,” said the head of Rheinmetall Armin Papperger.
“Rheinmetall will invest more and I am sure that other European partners will also come and invest in Bulgaria,” Papperger added. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Žeľazkov praised the project as “a significant step forward in the country’s industrial and defense capabilities”. The factory is expected to create around 1,000 jobs.
Bulgaria specializes in ammunition for Soviet-era weapons – the ones most used by Ukraine – but in recent years it has been trying to modernize its outdated production facilities with the help of European subsidies so that it can start producing grenades and other ammunition according to NATO standards, writes AFP. Bulgaria’s arms industry, which has been booming since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, contributes almost four percent to the country’s GDP, according to the government.
