On Saturday, February 14, 2026, the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense announced the receipt of the first batch of U.S.-made Stryker ICV (Infantry Carrier Vehicle) wheeled armored personnel carriers, out of a total of 183 units ordered. The first five vehicles arrived aboard a vehicle carrier at the port of Burgas.
The Stryker Dragoon is an upgraded variant of the M1126 Stryker wheeled armored personnel carrier. The vehicle is equipped with the Protector MCT-30 remote weapon station from Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, armed with a 30 mm XM813 cannon. Additional armament includes a 7.62 mm M240 machine gun and M6 smoke grenade launcher smoke grenade launchers. The turret has been fully integrated with a new commander’s station, and modifications have also been made to the powertrain and parts of the hull. / Photo: United States Army
In accordance with the industrial cooperation arrangements предусмотренных in the contract, the vehicles will be delivered to the TEREM – Ivaylo EOOD facility in Veliko Tarnovo, in north-central Bulgaria on the Yantra River (part of TEREM Holding EAD, based in Targovishte), for final assembly and subsequent handover to the 61st Mechanized Brigade in Karlovo. A service center for ICV Stryker vehicles is being established at this facility, intended to support not only the Bulgarian Land Forces (Suchoputni voyski na Bulgaria) but also to serve as a pan-European hub of this type.
As part of the same shipment, logistical equipment was delivered to Bulgaria, along with equipment related to the F-16C/D Block 70 fighter aircraft program. An additional eight Stryker vehicles were also delivered free of charge under a U.S. assistance program and will be used for training within the 61st Mechanized Brigade.
Originally, deliveries were scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2025.
It should be recalled that on November 9, 2023, Bulgaria’s National Assembly approved the Ministry of Defense’s proposal to purchase 183 Stryker ICV vehicles, including the M1126 Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle-Dragoon variant. The authorities in Sofia received U.S. approval for the purchase on September 1 of the same year.
The contract was valued at 2.2 billion BGN, with an additional 300 million BGN allocated separately for ammunition procurement. Payments were spread over the period 2023–2027, with the largest tranches, 600 million BGN each, scheduled for 2024 and 2025.
The Bulgarian government had requested approval to acquire 183 Stryker platforms, including 90 M1296 Infantry Carrier Vehicle-Dragoon (ICVD) wheeled infantry fighting vehicles, 17 M1126 ICV infantry carriers, 9 M1132 Engineer Squad Vehicles (ESV), 33 M1130 Command Vehicles (CV), 24 M1133 Medical Evacuation Vehicles (MEV), and 10 M1135 Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Reconnaissance Vehicles (NBCRV).
Additionally, the request included five HEMTT heavy transport trucks in the Light Equipment Transporter (LET) configuration, five Modular Catastrophic Recovery Systems (MCRS), two M1120A4 HEMTT load-handling system trucks, and five M984A4 Wrecker HEMTT recovery vehicles. Together with a supplementary package covering armament, logistical support, and maintenance services, the total value was estimated at up to 1.5 billion USD.
Since July 19, 2019, Bulgaria had been seeking a supplier for 150 8×8 wheeled armored personnel carriers, including 90 equipped with a manned turret mounting a 30 mm automatic cannon as wheeled infantry fighting vehicles and 60 specialist variants. These vehicles were intended to equip three battalion-sized battle groups within a mechanized brigade of the land forces, replacing BTR-60PB, upgraded BTR-60PB-MD, and BRDM-2 reconnaissance vehicles.
A previous government had considered acquiring the AMV XP or Piranha 5, after earlier rejecting the VBCI 3030 and GTK Boxer. Ultimately, the subsequent government opted for the American platform.
Regarding exports of the Stryker ICV, in addition to Bulgaria, the vehicles have been delivered to Thailand (130 units, all delivered), North Macedonia (initially 54 units, later reduced to 42 in 2024), and Argentina (8 ordered out of 207 planned; deliveries have begun). They have also been supplied to Ukraine as part of U.S. military aid (over 400 delivered, of which 102 have been destroyed, damaged, abandoned, or captured). The vehicles are also being considered in Chile as replacements for the Mowag Piranha I and were previously evaluated for licensed production in India, although the government in New Delhi abandoned the procurement plans, according to information from July last year. Strykers were unsuccessfully offered to Canada, Israel, and Lithuania.