The paper, which did not say how many planes were under consideration or if they would be new or second-hand, said that Czech deputy defence minister Jan Vana will meet US officials in Washington at the beginning of May for talks on the issue.

The report comes after fellow EU member-to-be Poland and the United States on Friday sealed a 3.5 billion dollar (3.2-billion-euro) deal to buy 48 F-16 fighter jets from US defence firm Lockheed Martin.

Poland, which like the Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999, made the purchase to bring its armed forces up to the standards required by the military alliance.

The deal drew criticism from European Union countries, who thought a member-in-waiting should have given its business to an EU company.

Lidove Noviny said that the planned negotiations follow talks on Wednesday between Czech Defence Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik and Washington's ambassador to Prague, Craig Stapleton.

"The American side is prepared to make the maximum effort in the face of the military and financial abilities of the Czech Republic," Vratislav Janda, a Washington-based Czech diplomat, told the paper.

Czech defence ministry officials recently said that they have been in talks for several weeks on the possible purchase of 14 second-hand Tornado F3 jets from Britain.

Top Czech general Pavel Stefka told the BBC's Czech language service on Friday that "similar talks will take place soon with other partners."

He added that Prague needs to remain in control of the protection of its airspace and also wants to avoid losing a whole generation of potential pilots.

The Czech military air force is currently only able to boast outdated Russian-made MiG-24 fighter jets, whose working life will expire in 2004-2005.

The government is expected to make a final decision on the country's air defences before the end of May.

SPACE.WIRE