US diversified holdings company ITT announced plans to invest $400 million in Bulgaria, mostly in the construction of new production facilities, as reported by Dnevnik daily, which quoted ITT's local representative Balkantel. The company will officially unveil its plans for Bulgaria on April 11.

According to sources familiar with ITT plans, the US company will eye Bulgarian army modernisation projects, namely the deployment of tactical communication-information systems for the general staff, ground, air and naval forces. ITT holds a 50 per cent share of the global tactical communications market.

Bulgaria's Defence Ministry plans to select a foreign strategic partner experienced in systems used by US and UK militaries and ITT is considered a preferred investor.

ITT already made preliminary arrangements for gaining a foothold in Bulgaria. The company is already ready link up with 11 Bulgarian firms, part of the Consortium for Military Communication Production. Set up in April last year, the consortium includes companies from Bulgaria's defence industry and from the IT and communication sectors.

In December last year, the Government gave the go-ahead for a public procurement tender to build the tactical communication system. The tender will be called in the near future, according to representatives of the consortium, quoted by Dnevnik.

ITT is also reported to be interested in buying stakes in Bulgarian companies, with subsidiaries of defence company Terem high on its list. If it is successful, ITT would use the same technologies that are used for the maintenance US army equipment.

Should ITT win the offset deal, it is said to have plans to assign local company Optics AD to produce third-generation night vision devices, whereas Electron Consortium AD would be sub-contracted to manufacture radio stations and radio relay stations. Veliko Turnovo-based Bitova Electronika, for its part, could take the production of proprietary ITT army radio stations. Software developers Sirma Group and Bianor Services, in turn, could develop the communication software portion of the deal.

Last year, ITT reported $9 billion in revenue, its defence electronics segment alone accounting for $4.2 billion of the earnings.