PRAGUE -- The Czech Republic's plan to buy 24 supersonic jets to replace its ageing fleet of MiG-21s has been canceled due to the expected high costs of record flooding through the country, Defense Ministry spokesman Milan Repka said on Monday.

Repka told Reuters that Defense Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik will not submit a plan on the purchase -- at $2 billion it was to be the largest Czech military order ever -- to the government.

"The minister will instead submit a different plan on how to defend Czech airspace from 2004," Repka said.

The Czechs, NATO members since 1999, had planned to buy up to 24 gripen fighter planes from a consortium of Sweden's Saab and Britain's BAE systems.