The US State Department has approved the sale of over 200 Javelin anti-armor missiles to Bulgaria.
Sofia requested a total of 218 Javelin FGM-148F missiles for an estimated $114 million, including four “fly-to-buy” missiles and 107 Javelin Lightweight Command Launch Units.
Also included in the potential purchase is basic skill training, maintenance training, technical assistance, and other related logistics elements and program support.
“The proposed sale will improve Bulgaria’s long-term defense capacity to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity and to meet its national defense requirements,” the Defense Security Cooperation Agency stated.
The prime contractor will be the Javelin Joint Venture between Lockheed Martin and RTX Corporation.
Javelin FGM-148F
An upgrade on the Javelin FGM-148E, the FGM-148F is the latest version of the missile, featuring a more lethal multi-purpose warhead.
It consists of a combination of precursor warhead and main charge to defeat explosive-reactive armor and a fragmenting steel case to strike unarmored and lightly armored targets.
The FGM-148F entered production in 2020 and has a range of 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) under most operating conditions.