On September 1, 2023, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) of the US Department of Defense sent a notification to the US Congress about the planned possible sale of 183 Stryker (8x8) wheeled armored personnel carriers in various versions to Bulgaria through the US program of intergovernmental foreign military sales Foreign Military Sales (FMS). This sale is approved by the U.S. Department of State. The total cost of the proposed delivery is estimated at $1.5 billion, including regular weapons and equipment and training and technical support packages.
XM1296 Infantry Carrier Vehicles - Dragoon (ICVD) armored personnel carrier of the Stryker type from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment of the US Army during the Dragoon Ready 23 exercises at the Hohenfels training ground (Germany). 27.01.2023 (c) Donovon Lynch / US Department of Defense
According to the notification, the delivery should include 90 linear armored personnel carriers in execution with combat modules with 30 mm guns XM1296 Infantry Carrier Vehicles - Dragoon (ICVD); 17 linear armored personnel carriers M1126 Infantry Carrier Vehicles (ICV); nine M1132 Engineer Squad Vehicles (ESV); 33 armored command and staff vehicles M1130 Command Vehicles (CV); 24 medical vehicles M1133 Medical Evacuation Vehicles (MEV); ten radiation, chemical and biological reconnaissance vehicles M1135 Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Reconnaissance Vehicles (NBCRV); as well as 17 heavy military vehicles HEMTT (8x8), including five performed by Light Equipment Transports (LET); five trailers Modular Catastrophic Recovery Systems (MCRS); two M1120A4 HEMTT vehicles with Load Handling Systems; and five M984A4 Wrecker HEMTT recovery vehicles.
All machines, as you can understand, will be of new production, the general contractor for the delivery will be General Dynamics Corporation.
Based on the notification, Bulgaria should receive 90 linear armored personnel carriers XM1296 Infantry Carrier Vehicles - Dragoon (ICVD) equipped with remote-controlled turret-like RT20 combat modules (previously designated as MCT-30) of the Norwegian Kongsberg group with a 30 mm Northrop Grumman XM813 Bushmaster automatic cannon and a paired 7.62mm machine gun. Previously, 83 such serial vehicles in 2017-2019 were received by the 2nd Cavalry Regiment of the US Army stationed in Germany (2nd Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Dragoons; according to the staff, a brigade on Stryker combat vehicles). However, further deliveries of this Stryker variant to the US Army were not carried out, and in 2021, for further modernization of the Stryker armored personnel carrier, the US army chose an uninhabited tower-like Samson combat module of the Israeli company Rafael with the same 30 mm automatic gun XM813 under the MCWS (Medium Caliber Weapon System) program. Bulgaria will thus become the first foreign recipient of vehicles in the execution of XM1296 Infantry Carrier Vehicles - Dragoon.
The RT20 combat module (MST-30) does not have a turret compartment and is equipped with a round-the-clock duplicated fire control system. The XM813 cannon has dual power and ammunition in a module of 150 shells, and can use remote detonation shots. The Stryker machine with this combat module retains a full-time capacity of nine landing troops. The HM1296 also has a Double V-Hull variant machine body with enhanced mine protection.
As follows from the notification, the remaining Stryker variants planned for delivery to Bulgaria should be equipped with remotely controlled combat modules of the Kongsberg group of other types - RS6 (LW30) with a 30 mm Northrop Grumman M230LF low-ballistics automatic cannon and a 7.62mm machine gun, and M153A4 Protector CROWS with a 12.7mm machine gun or a 40 mm automatic grenade launcher. Interestingly, the Teledyne FLIR Ranger R20SS air target detection radar and TACFLIR 280 HDEP electron-optical systems of the same manufacturer should also be included in the delivery. Apparently, they should be used in combination with RS6 (LW30) combat modules to create anti-aircraft self-propelled units based on the Stryker M1126 linear APC to combat UAVs.
Recall that the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense earlier in 2016 conducted a long tender for the purchase of wheeled armored personnel carriers of the new generation 8x8, according to which it was planned to purchase 150 vehicles for the Bulgarian army, including 90 in the linear version (to equip three motorized infantry battalions). In October 2020, vehicles presented by General Dynamics Land Systems (GDELS) (a new version of the Piranha V armored personnel carrier equipped with the Israeli uninhabited Elbit Systems UT30MK2 combat module with a 30 mm Bushmaster Mk 44 automatic cannon and ATGM) and the Finnish Patria group (AMV armored personnel carrier in an extended version of AMV-L equipped with an Israeli Rafael Samson Mk II combat module with the same armament). However, in March 2021, the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense canceled this tender due to the fact that the proposals of both applicants exceeded the cost limit of 1.46 billion euros approved earlier by the Bulgarian Parliament for this program by 30-50%.
As a result, the program for the purchase of new armored personnel carriers by Bulgaria turned out to be suspended for more than two years, and now, apparently, it must find permission in the form of an out-of-competition purchase of American Stryker machines. It can be assumed that the main reason for the decision in favor of Stryker may be the willingness on the part of the United States to cover part of the declared cost of $ 1.5 billion in the form of military assistance to Bulgaria, just as it has already been done with respect to a number of other purchases of American weapons by Eastern European countries.
