April 26 (SeeNews) - Sweden's offer to supply Gripen combat aircraft to Bulgaria's Air Force has been ranked first, public radio broadcaster BNR reported on Wednesday.
The offers submitted by Portugal (with a logistics package sourced from the USA) and Italy were ranked second and third, respectively, BNR said following a meeting of the caretaker government which endorsed the conclusions of the working group in charge of assessing the offers.
It is up to the next government to decide whether to open negotiations with each of the three candidates, or with the first-ranked one, BNR quoted deputy prime minister Stefan Yanev as saying.
On Monday, the defence ministry said that the working group had completed their analysis.
The investment project for the acquisition of a new type of combat aircraft by NATO member Bulgaria to replace the country's ageing fleet of Russian-made MiG fighter aircraft was approved on 1 April 2016 by the minority coalition government led by centre-right GERB party. The first stage of the project envisages the signing of an intergovernmental agreement for the acquisition of 8 aircraft in the period 2018-2020.
In November 2016, the GERB-led coalition government resigned following the loss of the GERB candidate in the presidential elections, a caretaker cabinet was appointed and early parliamentary elections were held in March 2017. GERB won the vote but fell short of absolute majority. A new coalition government led by GERB is expected to be formed in early May.
In October, Bulgaria's northern neighbour Romania received six F-16 fighter jets from Portugal as part of a programme that aims to replace the country's Soviet-era MiGs with combat aircraft that comply with NATO standards. Romania received another three F-16 Fighting Falcons in mid-December and will get three more by September 2017, taking the total number of F-16 bought from Portugal to 12.