Bulgaria Moves to Buy Five More IRIS-T SLM Under SAFE — EUR 1.1 Billion, Contracted Through Germany's MoD

Parliament approved the original project in August 2024 as a phased purchase: one IRIS-T SLM first, with five more and a long-range IRIS-T SLX to follow by 2032. The 2024 programme agreement, signed by the two defence ministers that September, was concluded under the memorandum on joint procurement of ground-based air defence in the European Sky Shield Initiative, and Radev recalled Bulgaria's part in the initiative on 7 October. The government will also look for ways to buy uncrewed aerial systems for the batteries. Bulgaria has prepared nine SAFE projects, with loans of about EUR 3.5 billion approved.

The contract is signed in Berlin's name: the Diehl amendment is between Bulgaria's ministry, represented by Germany's, and the manufacturer. That is the Sky Shield joint-procurement mechanism of 2024 now carrying SAFE money, an EU loan spent through one member state's procurement on another's behalf. It also sets the order behind "within weeks": a plenary vote, the ministers' signature, then ratification of the agreement by the National Assembly. Signal No. 163 recorded Radev's timetable; the ratification vote, not a Diehl announcement, is the marker that the contract stands. One element of 2024 is absent from the update: the long-range IRIS-T SLX, which the government's text does not mention.