Bulgaria's pivotal arms support bolsters Ukraine's resilience
Bulgaria has decided to deliver the seventh support package to Ukraine in 2024. We explain why Bulgarian deliveries are among the most important for Ukraine.
The Bulgarian authorities announced the seventh support package this year. Unfortunately, the list of donated equipment is classified, but it is not expected to compromise the capabilities of the Bulgarian armed forces. This could involve new arms deliveries from the highly developed arms industry financed by the Bulgarian government or the transfer of old equipment.
It is worth noting that as of 2022, Bulgaria covered one-third of Ukraine's ammunition needs and later provided old but still usable BTR-60 armoured personnel carriers and damaged rockets for the S-300 air defence system.
Bulgarian arms industry — a massive NATO warehouse of Soviet-era equipment
The Bulgarian arms industry plays a significant role in supplying Ukraine with 82 mm and 120 mm mortar shells, 122 mm and 152 mm artillery shells, and 122 mm calibre rockets. There isn't another NATO country that can boast such a large volume of ammunition production for, among others, Soviet-type systems like the 2S1 Gvozdika, 2S3 Akatsiya, DANA M2, or BM-21 Grad.
These are essential shells with a range of 14 to 18 kilometres for the most popular artillery systems, and for Grad rockets, depending on the version, the range falls between 20-40 kilometres. It's worth noting that the first government deliveries from warehouses usually meant the oldest ammunition, since so-called "combat scrapping" is cheaper than conventional disposal.
Moreover, Bulgaria produces a large amount of ammunition in the form of mortar shells or grenades for RPG-7 launchers, and shells for SPG-9 recoilless guns. Standard PG-7VL grenades, capable of penetrating 500 mm of armoured steel, are already less effective for an ordinary soldier in the age of modern armour, but they are suitable for use on FPV drones. They have proven to be a successful way to dispose of old weapons but are characterized by low effectiveness against Russian "armoured barns".
The situation differs with PG-7VT grenades with a precursor, capable of dismantling reactive armour or similar barriers. Additionally, there are thermobaric RTB-7MA grenades for RPG-7, very effective in destroying fortifications. Ukrainians often use them as portable artillery.
