Czech Defense ministry launches tender for 210 armoured infantry vehicles.

The Department of Defence has officially begun a tender for the delivery of 210 armored infantry vehicles at a projected cost of more than 50 billion crowns, the largest public contract in modern Czech history.

Czech BMP-2 (Picture source: Army Recognition)

On 29 March 2018, Army Recognition reported the future replacement of the Czech BMP-2 APCs. According to Paolo Valpolini on EDR, the estimated procurement timeframe is 2020-2025 according to the slides shown by Col. Pavel Lipka, Director Development of Land Forces Department, Force Development Division of the Czech Ministry of Defence. The requirement is for 210 vehicles, which will equip the 71st and 72nd Mechanised battalions, both belonging to the 7th Mechanised Brigade, the heavy element of the Czech Land Forces. These vehicles will be fitted in seven different versions, among them combat, command, reconnaissance, engineer, medevac, artillery reconnaissance and recovery.

Despite recent modernization efforts, the BVP-2 remains the backbone of the ACR mechanized infantry. According to the Military Balance 2017 analytical book issued by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the service operated 120 BVP-2 (designated as BMP-2) tracked IFVs and 102 Pandur II wheeled IFVs as of early 2017; 98 BVP-1s (a licensed copy of the Soviet BMP-1 vehicle) and 65 BVP-2s were in store.