Five countries present their bids for the Slovak 8x8 AFV programme, they are coming up for evaluation by a project team of experts

The Ministry of Defence received bids for the Slovak Armed Forces' 8x8 Wheeled Armoured Fighting Vehicle (AFV) Programme. Czechia, Finland, Romania, Spain and the US submitted their bids by the official deadline of 31 December 2021, with some countries offering several technical solutions.

The bids are now coming up for evaluation by a 70-member project team comprising experts from across Defence and the Ministry of Economy (MOE) to help assess the level of Slovak industry content.

The project team will now analyse the bids in detail, whereas testing and trials on individual vehicles are expected soon after. Following the evaluation process, the expert team will finalise a feasibility study and related documents. The recommendation for the SVK Cabinet to procure the 8x8 Wheeled Armoured Fighting Vehicles is due by the end of March 2022.

The bids will be assessed on their merits against the scoring criteria. Out of 100% of the total score, the total Agreement price is worth 35%, the technical specifications 30%, logistics support across all stages of the vehicle's life cycle 10%, and the SVK defence industry's role in the programme 25%.

Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď said: “We are a step closer to getting the new vehicles for our soldiers to meet their needs of the 21st century. It applies that the level of Slovak industry content is an important criterion and must account for at least 40% of the total acquisition price – and we insist on this. For this reason, the bids are in the hands of not only experts from across Defence, but also those from the Ministry of Economy.”

Due to the sensitivity of information and in the interests of objectivity, the MOD will provide additional information on the bids only to a limited extent until the official evaluation process has been concluded.