SOFIA, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Bulgaria will soon launch a tender for the purchase of 250 armored and other vehicles for its Land Forces worth some 568 million U.S. dollars, officials said here on Tuesday.
The project for the purchase of the vehicles "that are needed very much" will be submitted in the next few days to the Council of Ministers for approval, Bulgarian Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on the modernization of the country's land forces.
Land Forces Commander Major General Andrey Botsev clarified that the project has to be completed within six to seven years depending on the financial framework.
The armored vehicle and its equipment have to be co-produced with Bulgarian companies, and the training, maintenance and repairs have to be carried out in Bulgaria.
Meanwhile, Nenchev said that according to the promise given by his Austrian counterpart last Saturday, the Bulgarian Army could receive from Austria as donation high cross equipment, buses and ambulances needed for border security.
In the coming days, he will send a commission to Austria to assess the condition of this equipment, Nenchev said.
At the end of February, Nenchev said Bulgaria was ready to deploy some 500 troops on its borders to help stop the refugee flow at any time when the Interior Ministry requested it.
Currently, the Land Forces have deployed on the border with Turkey a logistics group consisting of 37 vehicles and 70 people, Botsev said.