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Teledyne FLIR Secures $32M U.S. Army Contract to Add Recon Surveillance Kits to Bulgarian Strykers.
The U.S. Army has awarded Teledyne FLIR Defense a contract worth up to $32 million to deliver Recon Surveillance Kits for Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicles bound for Bulgaria under the Foreign Military Sales program. The upgrade supports Bulgaria’s transition away from Soviet-era equipment while improving battlefield awareness and NATO interoperability on the alliance’s eastern flank.
Teledyne FLIR Defense announced on January 15, 2026, that it has secured a U.S. Army contract worth up to $32 million to deliver and integrate a Recon Surveillance Kit for Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicles being provided to Bulgaria through the Foreign Military Sales process. The award, placed by U.S. Army Contracting Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, comes as Sofia accelerates a landmark shift away from Soviet-era platforms toward a NATO-interoperable armored fleet, with Bulgaria preparing to begin receiving its first Stryker vehicles in February 2026 as previously reported by Army Recognition. In its announcement, the company framed the effort as a near-term capability jump for a key NATO ally, emphasizing faster battlefield awareness and tighter interoperability as Bulgaria transitions into a more networked, sensor-driven way of fighting alongside allied formations.
The U.S. Army has awarded Teledyne FLIR Defense a potential $32 million contract to add Recon Surveillance Kits to Bulgarian Stryker vehicles, sharpening a NATO ally’s situational awareness as it transitions away from Soviet-era armor (Picture Source: Teledyne FLIR Defense / DVIDS)
In practical battlefield terms, the deal is about turning Strykers into mobile sensor masts that can detect, track, and hand off targets faster than dismounted scouts alone. Teledyne FLIR Defense says the kit combines three core elements: the TacFLIR 280 HDEP electro-optical and infrared imaging system, the Ranger R20SS long-range radar, and Cameleon command-and-control software to fuse detection and tracking into a single operator workflow. This architecture is designed to deliver 360-degree situational awareness and long-range threat detection in day, night, and adverse weather conditions, which is exactly the envelope Bulgarian crews will demand as the vehicles enter national acceptance trials and training cycles. The operational logic is simple but decisive: push detection farther out, shorten the time to classification, and distribute a clean target picture across the formation before contact turns into close combat.
The radar layer, built around the Ranger R20SS, is the first piece that changes how a Stryker reconnaissance element “sees” beyond line of sight cues and human observation. The R20SS is an X-band FMCW ground and coastal surveillance radar engineered to detect and track personnel, vehicles, and watercraft at ranges stated by the manufacturer as reaching up to 60 km depending on target type and conditions. Its digital beam-forming design supports continuous sector scanning with track-while-scan behavior, and it is built to cue electro-optical sensors automatically, reducing the time from first detection to camera-on-target. For a wheeled platform expected to move quickly between observation points, that matters as much as raw range, because it lets crews keep the optics quiet until the radar provides a credible cue, cutting search time and lowering the chance of missing fleeting targets. Teledyne FLIR also highlights the radar’s fast refresh performance and its ability to maintain large numbers of simultaneous tracks, a practical advantage when a reconnaissance screen must watch multiple avenues of approach while still keeping attention on the most dangerous movers.
The electro-optical and infrared component, TacFLIR 280 HDEP, provides the identification and targeting fidelity the radar cannot. Teledyne positions the 280 HDEP for medium-range detection, identification, and tracking across varied terrain and weather, with stabilization for use on moving ground vehicles and fixed sites. The system family is also known for supporting advanced options such as laser tools that can support ranging and, in configured setups, precise target coordinate generation. In reconnaissance terms, that closes the loop: radar detects and tracks, the turret confirms and classifies, and the operator can maintain a track long enough to generate a usable target handoff for fires, maneuver, or higher-echelon surveillance assets. On the battlefield, that handoff is often the difference between “seeing” a threat and being able to fix it precisely enough for a rapid engagement decision without exposing the Stryker to unnecessary risk.
The third element, Cameleon, is what makes the kit operationally coherent rather than a stack of separate subsystems. Teledyne’s Cameleon environment is designed to control multiple sensors through an operator-friendly interface, enabling radar-to-camera slew-to-cue, map-based positional awareness, and rapid transitions between detection, tracking, and monitoring tasks. On a reconnaissance Stryker, this is the difference between “having sensors” and “running a reconnaissance mission” because it reduces cognitive load, helps filter nuisance detections, and supports disciplined handoffs to other vehicles, command posts, or allied units once the Bulgarian Stryker force begins operating in NATO-aligned procedures. Just as importantly, a unified control layer supports consistent tactics and training, so crews can operate the Recon Kit as a repeatable drill rather than an improvisation under pressure.
Army Recognition’s reporting on Bulgaria’s Stryker program highlights why the timing is strategically important: the first vehicles are expected to arrive in February 2026 and initial deliveries are set to move through the Terem-Ivaylo military plant in Veliko Tarnovo, where acceptance and integration activities will help anchor modernization inside Bulgaria’s defense-industrial base. In that context, Teledyne FLIR Defense’s plan to manufacture components across its U.S. and Canadian facilities and then integrate the kits on-site after vehicle delivery aligns cleanly with Bulgaria’s near-term intake and testing rhythm. It also signals a broader concept of operations: Strykers are being introduced not only as protected mobility platforms, but as networked combat systems where communications, sensor fusion, and rapid target dissemination are central to combat value. That on-site integration approach also reduces the risk of a capability gap between vehicle arrival and operational readiness, because sensors, software, and vehicle procedures can be validated in-country alongside Bulgarian acceptance milestones.
Teledyne FLIR Defense also indicates that the Recon Kit is a first step rather than the final configuration. Later phases of the same modernization pathway are expected to add unmanned aircraft and launch systems alongside Teledyne’s nuclear, biological, and chemical detection sensors, enabling standoff identification of hazardous threats for Bulgarian Land Forces. If those increments follow, Bulgaria’s Stryker formations would gain a layered reconnaissance and warning architecture that combines onboard radar and EO-IR identification with off-board aerial collection and specialized CBRN awareness, a mix increasingly relevant for high-readiness NATO ground forces operating near contested borders. In modernization terms, it points to a force designed to find threats early, verify them quickly, and keep distance where possible, while still retaining the ability to fight decisively when contact is unavoidable.
The contract carries a three-year performance period. When the first Recon Kit-equipped Strykers begin appearing in Bulgarian training areas, the real measure will be how quickly crews can move from first radar hit to positive identification and a clean digital handoff, because that sensor-to-decision speed is what turns a reconnaissance vehicle into a force multiplier rather than simply an armored truck with expensive electronics. The fastest wins will likely come from the mundane but critical details: how reliably the radar cues the turret on the move, how quickly operators can confirm and classify, and how seamlessly the resulting track data can be shared across units so the broader formation reacts as a single, informed system rather than isolated vehicles operating on partial awareness.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.