Another 35 Bulgarian firms will get more than €46m in EU money to upgrade their production of defence goods and dual-use products, the Executive Agency "European Funds for Competitiveness" said.
The money became available after the budget for the scheme rose to €117m. In early October, the Ministry of Innovation and Digital Transformation said €61.5m would go to nearly 100 companies, while many projects remained on reserve lists. The ministry said then that the agency running the programme would look for extra funds.
Where it began: About 100 firms to get €61.5m in EU grants to make defence goods
Until now, 94 firms had been approved. With the new ones, the total is 129.
The call first had €70.6m set aside. Firms that applied by mid-April asked for almost twice that amount.
The scheme is part of the "Competitiveness and Innovation in Enterprises" programme. The agency that runs it falls under the ministry. The aim is to get firms to make more for defence, as well as dual-use goods, which have both civilian and military uses.
These include high-performance computers, microprocessors, radar systems, lidars, encryption software, drones and other unmanned vehicles. Firms can spend the money on machines, facilities, equipment and specialist software, and on patents, licences and know-how.
Some of the money can also pay for construction and installation work, but that is capped at 50% of a project's total costs.