Bulgaria Signs Onto NATO's Under-150-Meter Counter-Drone Project Weeks After Drones Sank Two Ships, at EUR 220,000 a Year

On Friday, Oct. 30, Bulgarian Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov signed the note of accession that brings his country into one of NATO's newer multinational efforts: the Air Defence Capabilities Against Lower-Level Air Threats High Visibility Project, or HVP. It is aimed at drones, cruise missiles and glide bombs flying below 150 meters. It runs for three years and costs Bulgaria EUR 220,000 a year. For now it delivers paperwork rather than launchers.

The timing is easy to understand. In October, drones sank merchant ships off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, and in August a decoy drone came down and exploded on Bulgarian soil. But the project Sofia just joined is not a purchase order. It is a separate track from the counter-drone systems Bulgaria is already buying, and the difference matters if you want to know what the country can actually field and when.

What Bulgaria Actually Signed

According to NATO's announcement, Bulgaria signed a memorandum of understanding to join the HVP. NATO calls it a multinational framework that lets Allies acquire, develop and field capabilities against lower-level air threats such as drones and cruise missiles. Defence ministers first established the initiative at their February 2025 meeting. The initial participants signed the MoU at the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum in July 2026.

Bulgaria's state news agency BTA, citing the Defence Ministry press centre, reported that the accession note adds Bulgaria to an existing memorandum of cooperation among the defence ministers of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Romania, Sweden and Türkiye. The Council of Ministers approved the move earlier that week. The note still has to be submitted to the National Assembly for ratification, so Bulgaria's membership is not final until parliament votes.

Novinite confirmed the basic parameters as well: the full project name, the threat envelope below 150 meters covering cruise missiles, UAVs and glide bombs, and the two areas of cooperation.

What Does the Project Buy?

The short answer is information first, hardware later. BTA describes the HVP as aimed at detecting, identifying, tracking and countering low-flying threats using platforms, sensors, effectors and other technological solutions. It works in two areas, joint procurement and joint development, and participating countries will exchange information, expertise and technological solutions.

The first concrete step falls to the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA). It will conduct market research and compile a catalogue of existing and emerging technologies that meet the participating countries' common requirements. According to BTA, that will support capability assessments and decisions on future acquisitions and joint development projects. In other words, it is groundwork for any later joint buy, not a buy itself.

BTA also reported that Bulgarian defence companies will be able to present their products, technological solutions and expertise, and seek participation in joint projects with allied countries. For a smaller defence industry, that is a potential route into multinational projects.

The fee is a mandatory EUR 220,000 a year over the three-year term, according to BTA. That is a membership contribution, not a weapons budget, and none of the sources say it covers the cost of any systems. Any systems eventually bought through the framework would presumably be paid for separately.

Can Bulgaria Afford It?

Stoyanov's tone has shifted. According to DroneXL, he told lawmakers in September that the initiative would stretch the defense budget. By Oct. 14, addressing the National Assembly, he was more confident. "We can afford this amount," he said, as reported by Radio Bulgaria (BNR). In the same session he said Bulgaria expected to join by Oct. 30, and it did.

The Attacks Behind the Decision

DroneXL's reporting ties the signing to a string of drone attacks at sea off Bulgaria in October. The outlet reports that on Oct. 6 a ship went down with nine Syrian sailors and one Egyptian lost. On Oct. 13 the Guinea-Bissau-flagged HS Dignity was sunk off Krapets, near the Romanian border, with 11 crew still missing. DroneXL also reports, citing Reuters, that the Maltese-flagged Chelsea-3 was struck by three drones that day and that its crew of 15 was rescued.

There was an earlier incident on land. On Aug. 8, according to DroneXL, citing BTA, a drone the Defence Ministry identified as a Maya decoy exploded about 100 meters inside Bulgarian territory near the former Kardam border checkpoint, roughly 1,000 meters from a gas compressor station. The ministry said the type is widely used by Ukraine's armed forces and that nothing pointed to a deliberate attack. DroneXL's view is that the incident made the gap visible before the sinkings: a NATO member with a Black Sea coastline had a drone come down close to energy infrastructure, which is the kind of low-altitude problem the HVP is meant to address.

How This Differs From Drone Edge

The HVP is easy to confuse with Bulgaria's other counter-drone program, and the two should be kept apart.

Drone Edge is a hardware buy. Stoyanov told the National Assembly, per BNR, that Bulgaria had committed EUR 80 million through the EU's SAFE mechanism for a project to acquire 20 systems: 10 mobile and 10 stationary. He also said "Bulgaria has not withdrawn" from Drone Edge, and that a memorandum of understanding with Spain on joint acquisition was expected to be signed shortly.

The NATO HVP is a three-year framework with a EUR 220,000 annual fee. Its first output is an NSPA market survey and technology catalogue, with joint procurement and joint development to follow. It covers a wider threat set than drones, including cruise missiles and glide bombs below 150 meters.

Bulgaria already has some equipment in service. DroneXL reports that on Aug. 17 the country took delivery of its first two counter-drone systems, bought from US company Axon, with two more due shortly; the first pair still had to be put into service. So the picture is layered. A small number of systems are already delivered. A larger EU-financed buy is in progress. And a NATO framework sits alongside both.

Why It Matters

Bulgaria's move is a modest financial step taken under heavy pressure. The country has seen drones sink merchant ships off its coast and a decoy drone explode near a gas compressor station on its own soil. The HVP will not change that in the short term. Its first product is a catalogue, and ratification is still pending in parliament. DroneXL put it bluntly: nothing in the project flies over Krapets this winter.

What the project does offer a mid-sized Ally is a way to work with others. The members are Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Romania, Sweden, Türkiye and now Bulgaria. NATO says Bulgaria's addition will strengthen the framework through increased interoperability, cost savings and operational benefits, and that is the case for pooling effort on a fast-moving capability area that is hard for a single country to cover alone.

The tracks to watch are parliament's ratification vote, whether NSPA's catalogue leads to an actual joint contract within the three-year window, and whether Drone Edge's 20 systems and the planned Spanish memorandum turn into hardware. For the next few months, Bulgaria's real low-altitude defence will rest on the systems it can buy and deploy itself.