Modern equipment of the Bulgarian land forces

This is a list of some of the equipment currently in use by the Bulgarian land forces.

Overview

A highly detailed description of the total military technology of the entire military including the land forces, air force, and navy, along with the active, reserve, and stored surplus equipment can be downloaded as a word document here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/heyrxhrnpqx06mz/Bulgarian+Military.docx, or as a pdf file here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/ba571l7jiid2tf8/Bulgarian+Military.pdf.

Small arms

AK-47 Type 3, produced in Bulgaria as AKK
A Bulgarian soldier with an ATGL-L / mod. RPG-7

Sidearms

Assault rifles

Submachine guns

Sniper rifles

Machine guns

AT weapons

Mortars

Other small arms

Anti-tank guided missiles

Man-portable air defense systems

Armoured vehicles

Bulgarian Special forces team in a mock raid.
Name Origin Type Number Photo Notes
Armoured fighting vehicles
T-72M2  Bulgaria[2] Main battle tank 160 [1]
Indigenous tank design, based on the russian T-72M1.[2] 150-250 in reserve[1]
BMP-23/30  Bulgaria Infantry fighting vehicle 100[1] (114 built)
Locally designed Infantry Fighting Vehicle with a 23-mm automatic cannon, 9K111 Fagot anti-tank guided missile launchers with a total of six missiles and an SA-7 Grail MANPADS
BMP-1P  Soviet Union Infantry fighting vehicle 75[1] (100 delivered)
Soviet tracked Infantry Fighting Vehicle with a 73-mm smoothbore gun
BTR-60PB  Soviet Union Armoured personnel carrier 100[1] (~100 in storage)
~30 are modernized to the BTR-60PB-MD1 standards
MT-LB / MT-LBu  Bulgaria Armoured personnel carrier 100[1] (~600 in storage)
Light multi-purpose vehicle; mostly used as an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC)
BRDM-2  Soviet Union Scout car 12[1]
Armoured scout car
9P148 "Konkurs"  Soviet Union Anti-tank vehicle 24
Anti-tank vehicle based around the BRDM-2 with five AT-5 Spandrel missiles
Plasan Sand Cat  Israel Patrol vehicle 25[3]
4x4 armoured patrol vehicle used by the Military Police service
M1117  United States Patrol vehicle 17[1]
4x4 multi-purpose armoured patrol vehicle; 6 deployed in Afghanistan
HMMWV  United States Multi-purpose vehicle 50[1]
Deployed in Afghanistan
Mercedes-Benz G-Class  Germany Armoured jeep 600[1]
4x4 armoured G 280 CDi[ and non-armoured G 270 CDi jeep; partially armed with locally produced PKM machine guns

Artillery and air defense

Name Origin Type Number Photo Notes
Artillery and air defense
MT-12  Soviet Union Anti-tank gun 200
100-mm anti-tank gun, now used mostly as conventional HE artillery
D-20  Soviet Union Howitzer 150
152-mm towed howitzer; principal heavy artillery piece of the Bulgarian Army
2S1 Gvozdika  Soviet Union Self-propelled howitzer 150[1]
122-mm self-propelled howitzer; produced locally as Karamfil; ~500 in storage
BM-21  Soviet Union Multiple rocket launcher ~100[1]
122-mm multiple-launch rocket system
SS-21 Scarab-A  Soviet Union Tactical ballistic missile 8
The only remaining ballistic missile system from the now-disbanded Rocket Forces; 8 TELs and 16 missiles with a 70 km range are in service
ZU-23-2  Soviet Union AA gun 128
Most ZU-23-2s in Bulgarian service are mounted on ZIL 131 trucks
S-60  Soviet Union AA gun 16
Heavier 57 mm AA gun
SA-7  Soviet Union Man-portable SAM system ~100[1]
SA-8 Gecko  Soviet Union SAM system 24[1]
Highly mobile short-range SAM system with 15 km range
SA-13 Gopher  Soviet Union SAM system 20
Short-range battlefield SAM system with 5 km range

New equipment

Recently retired equipment

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 "Bulgarian Defense Information". European Defense Information. Armed Forces.co.uk. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Bulgarian Military". Mediafire.com. 2013-11-17. Retrieved 2014-12-09.
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ "Армията се сдоби с Zetros". Bulgarian Transport Press (in Bulgarian) (4). 29 January 2009. Retrieved 25 April 2012.

External links