Bulgaria wants to purchase French CAESAR wheeled self-propelled guns to replace the Soviet 122-mm 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled guns, using the EU’s EDIPRA joint defense procurement tool. At the same time, in the next three years, Bulgaria plans to increase the level of its defense spending to 2.5% of GDP precisely at the expense of contracts for the purchase of new equipment.
The primary source here is the publication Euroactive, and the described history can fully illustrate why the EU is in no hurry to form a single army, and that the countries of the continent still need external incentives to really increase defense spending.
From the above, we can note that at the moment the Ministry of Defense of Bulgaria does not publicly announce the number of CAESAR self-propelled guns that it would like to purchase to replace the Soviet 2S1 “Gvozdika” self-propelled guns, the estimated cost of the order, and most importantly, the period in which they would like to receive new artillery systems. But instead, there is a clear indication of the desire to receive “external” funding for this purchase.
The Military Balance 2024 guide indicates that last year Bulgaria had a planned defense budget of $2.21 billion (BGN 3.95 billion), with the country’s total GDP of $110 billion (or BGN 197 billion).
Based on these data, Bulgaria’s defense spending is currently 2% of GDP, and by 2027, the formal spending figure should grow to the equivalent of $2.6 billion. But then the question arises not only about quantitative, but also qualitative indicators, or more specifically, what exactly should the increased defense spending be used for.
The question of the number of CAESAR self-propelled guns in the order for Bulgaria arises against the background of indicators of 48 2S1 “Gvozdika” and 24 towed D-20 howitzers of 152-mm caliber in the ranks of the Bulgarian army at the beginning of last year. Therefore, it is not yet clear to what level the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense wants to update its artillery.
In addition, Bulgaria has already used the EDIPRA instrument to obtain €180 million in funding for the purchase of the German IRIS-T SLM air defense system to replace the Soviet S-300. Therefore, there is a question of how much funding it will be able to receive under this instrument at Caesar.
Against the background of the described example with Bulgaria, general questions arise, in particular, whether European countries are really ready for such a level of defense integration, including the formation of a joint army, if some of them are still using the equipment of the Warsaw Pact and are only preparing for the transition to modern Western equipment. And also – what should the “external incentives” for a real increase in defense spending look like.
