Armoured vehicles producer International Armored Group (IAG) has launched a plant to produce armoured vehicles and drones in the Bulgarian city of Burgas, the Burgas municipality said in a statement on October 1.

The company, owned by Bulgarian entrepreneur Anton Stefov, will produce defence equipment to Nato standards. Bulgaria is part of Nato’s Eastern Flank, which the alliance has bolstered militarily since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 

Speaking at the opening ceremony, President Rumen Radev stressed the importance of Bulgaria having its own capacities to manufacture defence products. 

“Modern conflicts and the deteriorating security environment show the need for our country to have its own national capacities for the production of its own defence products, which would guarantee reliability in maintenance and continuous adaptation to defence needs,” Radev said, according to a statement from the presidency. 

"The opening of the plant is of particular importance for the Bulgarian economy, national security, the development of Burgas and the region,” the president added. 

The Bulgarian plant will produce over 150 different types of armoured vehicles and drones for rescue, intelligence and emergency teams in cooperation with Bulgarian partners. The production will be sold on global markets.

The new factory is located on an area of 150,000 square metres in the Burgas industrial zone. The initial investment is expected to exceed BGN20mn (€10.2mn), and the number of employees to reach over 300 people.

“Two years ago, when I announced that I would invest in Bulgaria, there were people who tried to dissuade me, but I did not listen to them. Now, I can proudly say that we built our first Bulgarian plant in Burgas ahead of schedule, in just one year. This is the beginning of a production process that will produce different types of combat vehicles – for infantry, army, police and fire brigades, meeting the highest Nato standards – STANEG 1, 2, 3 and 4,” Stefov said at the launching ceremony as quoted in the statement.

He added that all new products will also be manufactured in the Burgas plant.

IAG has three other manufacturing facilities located in the US, the UAE and Turkey.