US Intermediary Paid 402 Million Dollars for the production of 155-mm Shells for Ukraine in Bulgaria

"For months, Bulgaria's pro-Russian president fought to keep his country out of EU efforts to produce 155mm artillery shells for Ukraine. He appeared to have lost that battle in June, when the country's pro-Ukrainian defense minister said the NATO ally "will not rule out" the possibility of local companies producing the ammunition", writes the American publication Defense One in an article devoted to the supply of ammunition to Ukraine.

However, according to documents from the army and US authorities, Bulgaria has supplied 155 mm shells to Ukraine with the mediation of the United States, with deliveries planned for next year as well.

The previously undisclosed deal sheds light on how the United States has procured coveted ammunition, how Bulgaria has delicately balanced its foreign policy and how some small companies have dethroned major arms giants amid tensions over the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine's hunger for shells has defined the war as artillery-oriented, and Ukrainian gunners fire up to 240,000 rounds a month, or 12 times the US's monthly output. The US effort to power Ukrainian guns has taken many forms, but one of the biggest is a $522 million US military contract awarded in January to defense giant Northrop Grumman and a smaller company, Global Military Products. Shipping should have started in March.

The contract announcement (along with a correction issued later) said the two firms would compete for smaller orders under the $522 million cap through 2027. But information posted on the Federal Procurement Data System shows, that most of the money - $402 million - has already been disbursed and allocated to Global Military Products. Having indicated where the projectiles were purchased - from Bulgaria.

The admission contrasts with the declarations of Bulgarian politicians, especially the Russian-leaning president Rumen Radev, who in March declared that Bulgaria would never supply ammunition to Ukraine.

Even Bulgarian officials sympathetic to Ukraine noted that their largely Soviet-equipped military had no stockpiles of ammunition designed to NATO standards, and said their country only had "experimental production" capabilities.

And after Radev's cabinet was replaced by a new, pro-European government formed in June, officials regretfully explained that Bulgaria would not be able to quickly contribute to the European Union's plan for one million 155mm rounds for Ukraine.

"Unfortunately, when this project was announced, we showed passivity," said Defense Minister Todor Tagarev.

The documents for the contracts concluded by the Americans, however, suggest the presence of large capacities for the production of 155 mm shells in Bulgaria, experts say.

"Manufacturing in Bulgaria is the simplest explanation here," says Greg Sanders, deputy director of the Defense Industrial Initiatives Group at the CSIS think tank.

Mathew George, a senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and Jerry McGinn, a former senior career officer at the Defense Department's Office of the Manufacturing and Industrial Base, agree.

The $402 million contract allows for up to 800,000 155mm rounds to be bought at $500 each, although George cautioned that shipping, packaging and other services would likely increase the cost per unit. The Bulgarian embassy in Washington did not comment on Defense One's information.

The publication contacted two companies identified by Bulgarian officials as having an experimental capacity to produce 155 mm shells. The first - VMZ Sopot, stated that it was unable to produce the ammunition. The second, Transmobile, did not respond to repeated emails. Both VMZ and Transmobile, however, advertise 155mm rounds on their websites.

Global Military Products' army choice illustrates how the war in Ukraine is changing the defense industry, with smaller companies now finding they can successfully compete with defense industry giants amid a global hunger for weapons and ammunition.

Founded in 2013 and based in Florida, the company is not a natural player in the market for NATO-designed artillery shells - unlike defense industry giant Northrop Grumman.

Global Military Products began buying Soviet weapons from Bulgaria and other countries for the Special Operations Command and "probably" supplied them to Syrian rebels, according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. The Pentagon paid the company about $34 million a year from 2016 to 2021, according to USAspending, a government-run contract tracking website. Last year, the company's revenue related to the US government rose dramatically to $323 million, according to USASpending.

Much of this money appears to be linked to Ukraine. In addition to the money spent on the Bulgarian 155 mm shells, the US military also paid Global Military Products $118 million for Gepard anti-aircraft systems. A US defense official confirmed to Defense One that the systems were funded by the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, a fact seen in archived versions of the original message.

The company also has a second contract for 155mm munitions, valued at $232 million and labeled as a foreign military sale, but it is unclear whether those rounds are going to Ukraine.

Global Military Products' contract to ship 155mm rounds to Ukraine comes after a long effort to build ties in the Eastern European country. Months before the Russian invasion in February 2022, the company signed an agreement with Ukrainian state-owned arms manufacturer Ukroboronprom to supply US military products to Ukraine.

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