A U.S. contractor hired to help Bulgaria destroy stockpiles of Soviet-era SS-23 and other ballistic missiles has dismissed a team of Bulgarian missile experts who were to be involved in the project, a senior Bulgarian military officer said Sunday (see GSN, Sept. 12).

Controlled Demolitions Inc. dismissed the Bulgarian experts because of a conflict over the company’s apparent interest in the SS-23 control units, according to sources.  The firm wanted to disassemble the electronic systems before destroying them, a measure opposed by lead Bulgarian missile expert Lyubomir Balevski, who questioned the company’s motives in wanting to remove the equipment before destroying it. 

One country’s intellectual property should not be turned over to foreign experts for analysis without its consent, Balevski said.

The experts had been scheduled to sign a contract with the company last week.

Meanwhile, Zheko Ganev, an expert from the Bulgarian National Assembly’s Environment Commission, announced that fuel from the scrapped SS-23 missiles would be processed at a waste treatment facility in the town of Belozem.  The Bulgarian missile experts, however, said the facility would not be able to handle the SS-23 fuel.  Instead, special facilities owned by the Voinko consortium should be used, the experts said (Sofia 24 Chasa, Sept. 30 in FBIS-EEU, Sept. 30).

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