May 11 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's defence ministry said it approved the applications of Bulgaria's Terem Holding and Poland's Wojskowe Zaklady Lotnicze Nr2 to take part in a tender worth an estimated 16 million levs ($8.9 million/8.2 million euro) for the repair of six engines for MiG-29 fighter jets of the Bulgarian Air Force.
The pre-selection decision allows the two companies to submit preliminary bids under the public procurement procedure, the ministry said in its decision published on Tuesday.
Terem Holding and Wojskowe Zaklady Lotnicze Nr2 are the only two companies which applied to participate in the tender, launched in April, for the refurbishment and upgrade of six RD-33, Series 2 engines for the Soviet-made MiG-29s. The deadline for submittion applications was May 3.
Last month, the defence ministry announced that Bulgaria received from Poland one engine for MiG-29 and was close to signing a contract for the delivery of a second one.
Bulgaria has ordered two batches of eight F-16 Lockheed Martin fighter aircraft each from the U.S., to be respectively delivered in 2025 at the earliest, and 2029. Until then, the country is taking steps to ensure the airworthiness of its ageing fleet of MiG-29s for their air policing role.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)