Bulgaria Backs Defense, Dual-Use Industry With €61.5M in EU Funds

Jerusalem, 8 October, 2026 (TPS-IL) -- Sofia (BTA) – Nearly 100 Bulgarian companies will receive EUR 61.5 million for the modernization of defense and dual-use product production. The support is provided under the Competitiveness and Innovation in Enterprises Program, managed by the Executive Agency European Competitiveness Funds under the Ministry of Innovation and Digital Transformation (MIDT), the Ministry announced.

Nearly 200 micro, small, medium and large companies applied for the measure. They could apply for grants ranging from EUR 51,129 to EUR 3.6 million. The European funds will be used to purchase machinery, facilities, equipment, specialized software, as well as patents, licenses and know-how.

The aim is for enterprises to improve their industrial capacity in the production of defense products and dual-use items. Dual-use goods include, for example, high-performance computers and microprocessors, radar systems, lidars, cryptographic software, drones, other unmanned aerial vehicles, etc. The procedure will also finance construction and installation works, which cannot exceed 50 percent of the total costs of the relevant projects.

The approved companies will be invited by the Executive Agency to the Ministry of Transport and Communications to sign contracts.

Due to the large number of project proposals ranked in the reserve lists, the Managing Authority will discuss the possibilities of providing additional funds to increase the budget under the procedure.

The budget of the measure as of mid-April, when the deadline for submitting applications for it ended, was around 70.6 million euros. At that time, the expressed interest exceeded twice the available resources.