WARSAW, Poland — The Czech Ministry of Defence has received three offers in its tender to acquire 210 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) for the country’s land forces.
“All three manufacturers and potential suppliers … submitted their bids to the Ministry of Defence by the deadline” on Sept. 1, the ministry said in a statement. “The completeness of the offers and their contents will now be assessed in detail by a commission consisting of representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the Czech Army.”
The confirmed bidders include the UK’s BAE Systems with the Swedish-made CV90, Europe-based General Dynamics European Land Systems with its Ascod, and Germany’s Rheinmetall with the Lynx, according to the statement.
A fourth potential supplier, a joint venture between Germany’s Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall which makes the Puma, pulled out of the contest in 2019, and, as a result, did not submit an offer yesterday.
In what could become the largest defense contract in the Czech Republic’s history, Prague aims to spend about CZK 52 billion (US$2.4 billion) on new IFVs which will replace the military’s outdated BVP-2 vehicles.
As one of the tender’s requirements, potential suppliers must ensure that the Czech defense industry is involved in at least 40 percent of the IFV contract. This has spurred a partnership between BAE Systems and Czech state-owned defense company VOP CZ, while both GDELS and Rheinmetall established cooperation with local, privately-owned defense business Czechoslovak Group, among others.
Czech Defense Ministry officials have said the contract will not be awarded before the country’s parliamentary election that is scheduled for Oct. 8-9.
Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.
