Add to the Belgian ships the Smeli (‘Koni’ class/Type 1159) light patrol frigate and you have a four frigate navy. Considering all these ships are late 1970s vintage, they have not more than 10 years service left. If the Bulgars order new ships now, today, it will be at least a couple of years before the first is launched and commissioned. So, my perception is that Bulgaria will take the Belgian ships (three) in the interim, expanding the number of major surface combattants to four, and then pay all four light frigates off as four new ships become available.
I don’t think that we need four antiquated frigates – they would be only a waste of money. The Wielingen frigate doesn’t present any significant improvement – they are old, and only the Exocet missiles offer anything better than the 1159. Yet, the Exocets are the first model, which is rather obsolete. And there is only one Exocet missile in the frigate, and we don’t have any other. As you can see, the logistics aren’t the best, and the old ship itself would require intensive maintenance. So buying 3 obsolete ships (25-35 million euro) and then buying ammunitions, spares, and so on would come at some 200 million. On the other hand, a Gowind would have the same price, while having the firepower of the 3 frigates. Right now the best solution would be to maintain the current fleet (1 1159, 1 Belgian frigate, 1 Molniya, 2 1124s, 3 Osa I, and 3 Osa II) until the four new corvettes come to service. The financial resource is not unlimited, so any Belgian frigates could hamper the buying of the Gowinds.
As for type 22/23 – they are more powerful, but having 3 different types of frigates is rather pointless. Also, as I mentioned, we need money for the Gowinds 🙁
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