"Among the bidders, there are armored vehicle makers, their eventual sub-contractors, as well as commercial and consulting enterprises," said a ministry spokesman after the call for bids closed.

The contract was expected to be signed next year with delivery between 2007 and 2012 of 199 tanks, with the option for additional 35 vehicles.

The deal would be the most expensive in Czech army history since the former Soviet bloc country declared independence in 1993.

A lease-purchase contract for 14 Swedish fighter jets JAS-39 Gripen, signed last year, was worth 650 million euros.

The new tanks will replace amphibious vehicles that have been in service since 1960. The Czech army still has several hundred of these machines, but most of them are no longer operational.

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