WASHINGTON

The US State Department has granted approval for a potential sale of Stryker armored vehicles and associated equipment to Bulgaria, with an estimated cost of $1.5 billion, according to a statement on Friday.

The Congress has been notified of the possible sale, said the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in the statement.

The sale includes 183 Stryker family vehicles.

Those include 90 XM1296 infantry carrier vehicles – Dragoon (ICVD), 17 M1126 infantry carrier vehicles, nine M1132 engineer squad vehicles; 33 M1130 command vehicles, 24 M1133 medical evacuation vehicles, 10 M1135 nuclear, biological, and chemical reconnaissance vehicles as well as machine guns and remote operated weapons stations.

"This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by helping to improve the security of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in Europe," said the statement.

The US agreed to provide a Stryker armored vehicle company for a NATO battlegroup in Bulgaria to bolster the military alliance’s defenses amid Russia’s war on Ukraine last March.