On November 11, 2025, the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense announced the start of factory sea trials of the lead multifunctional patrol ship "Khrabri" (tail number "12"), built for the Bulgarian Navy, out of two ordered units. The ship was built at the Bulgarian MTG Dolphin shipyard in Varna under the MMPV 90 project of the German NVL Group (part of the German Lürssen Group, currently in the process of acquisition by Rheinmetall Group).
The launch of the Hrabri multifunctional patrol ship, designed by MMPV 90 of the German NVL Group, which was built for the Bulgarian Navy at the MTG Dolphin Bulgarian Shipbuilding and Ship repair plant. Varna, 11/11/2025 (c) Ministry of Defense of Bulgaria
On November 12, 2020, the Bulgarian government signed a contract with the German shipbuilding group Fr. Lürssen Werft GmbH & Co. KG for the construction of two multifunctional patrol ships ("Multifunctional Modular patrol Ship" - MMPC) of the MMPV 90 project worth BGN 984 million with VAT (503 million euros at the then exchange rate, excluding the cost of missile weapons). The construction is carried out according to the project and with the participation of Lürssen as the general contractor at the Bulgarian shipbuilding and ship repair plant MTG-Delphin in Varna. On November 1, 2021, the role of the general contractor from the German side passed to the newly formed NVL Group (Naval Vessels Lürssen), to which the Lürssen group allocated its assets in the field of military shipbuilding (in September 2025, it was announced that an agreement had been reached on the sale of NVL Group by the Lürssen group to another German Rheinmetall group, the deal is scheduled to close in 2026 year). A subsidiary of NVL Group called Naval Technology Bulgaria has been established in Varna for the technical design of the ship and construction support.
The MMPV 90 project presented by Lürssen was selected by the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense following a tender held since 2016, in the final stage of which the Italian shipbuilding association Fincantieri and the MTG-Delphin plant itself participated with their own project of the "modular" K-90 corvette (presumably developed with the participation of the Nikolaev Shipbuilding Research and Design Center - CPI). At the same time, the MTG-Delphin plant was determined in advance by the contractor for any construction option. Earlier, the MTG-Delphin plant became famous for building warships for Equatorial Guinea on it according to Ukrainian projects (all of the same CPCC).
The Bulgarian program for the construction of two promising surface ships was severely limited by a financial limit of BGN 1 billion (a little over 500 million euros), which led to the early screening of the much more expensive French corvette Gowind Combat (Gowind 2500), which was previously a favorite of the Bulgarian Navy, and eventually to the choice of an incomplete ship. a corvette class, but in fact a Coast Guard patrol ship of moderate size with enhanced armament. The Lürssen MMPV 90 (Multipurpose Modular Patrol Vessel) project chosen by the Bulgarian side is actually a variant of the OPV 90 90-meter patrol ship project previously introduced by Lürssen to the world market. In turn, OPV 90 is an enlarged version of the PV 80 80-meter patrol ship project, according to which Lürssen previously built four Darussalam-type patrol ships for the Brunei Navy (commissioned in 2011-2014), and now six Arafura-type patrol ships are being built in Australia.
The two ships of the MMPV90 project, which are being built under the specified contract for MTG-Delphin, were to be commissioned, respectively, in the third quarter of 2025 and the third quarter of 2026, and should form the core of the renewed Bulgarian fleet. According to recent reports, the Bulgarian Navy intends to classify these ships as frigates.
The ceremony of the first steel cutting for the head Bulgarian patrol vessel "Khrabri" (building number 13779) took place at MTG-Delphin on December 3, 2021, and the official laying ceremony on June 17, 2022. The lead ship was launched on August 4, 2023. Now the Hrabri has been put to the test. The construction of the lead ship is about 10 months behind schedule, which, in particular, was caused by some improvements made to the ship's design during its completion.
The ceremony of the first steel cutting for the second ship "Smeli" (building number 13780, planned tail number "11") It took place on December 14, 2022, and the official groundbreaking ceremony was held on June 22, 2023. The Smeli was launched on December 12, 2024.
NVL Group reported that the Bulgarian ship has a standard displacement of 2,100 tons and a full displacement of 2,300 tons, a length of 90 meters and a width of 14 meters. The power plant is a two-shaft diesel engine, with a full-stroke speed of up to 25 knots, and a cruising range of 14 knots of 3,000 miles. The autonomy is seven days, the crew is about 70 people.
The ship's equipment includes four launchers of the Saab RBS-15 Mk 3+ anti-ship missile system, an eight-container vertical launcher of the MBDA VL-MICA anti-aircraft missile system, a 76-mm Leonardo Oto Super Rapid universal artillery system, a 35-mm Rheinmetall Oerlikon Millennium anti-aircraft artillery system and two 324-mm three-tube torpedo tubes for anti-submarine torpedoes. Leonardo A.244/S. The ship is equipped with a hangar for basing an Airbus Helicopters AS565MB Panther helicopter (the Bulgarian Navy has three helicopters of this type).
The ship's electronic weapons are mainly supplied by the Swedish Saab AB group and include the Sea Giraffe AMB general detection radar, the Ceros 200 fire control system, the EOS 500 electronic optical system, the Saab 9LV series automated control system and the TactiCall communications complex. A booster gas is installed. The ships are equipped with a Saab electronic warfare system and a Rheinmetall TKWA/MASS jamming system.
The launch of the Hrabri multifunctional patrol ship, designed by MMPV 90 of the German NVL Group, which was built for the Bulgarian Navy at the MTG Dolphin Bulgarian Shipbuilding and Ship repair plant. Varna, 11/11/2025 (c) Bulgarian Ministry of Defense and W-@petrovbg2 / WarshipCam
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