Defence Minister Mihai Fifor announced on Monday that the Government, through the Defence Ministry, will try to cover this year two of the eight Army endowment programmes approved in Parliament and Romania’s Supreme Council for National Defence (CSAT), more precisely the procurement of the first Patriot missile defence system and the implementation of the industrial cooperation agreement with General Dynamics for the production of 8×8 armoured personnel carriers.
“Romania’s Government, through consistent efforts, has allocated 2 percent of the GDP [Gross Domestic Product – ed.n.] for Defence, I highlight, for Defence. Of these 2 pct, about 38 pct represent money that goes into the Romanian Army’s endowment programmes. These are highly significant investments, having prior agreement with Romania’s Parliament (…) there are eight endowment programmes for the Army approved by Romania’s Parliament, eight endowment programmes approved by CSAT, and starting this year, we will try and cover two of these programmes. I am referring to the acquisition of the first Patriot missile defence system, I am not going to tell the exact amount, somewhere around 700 million dollars. (…) Moreover, through extensive efforts, the Economy Ministry signed a Memorandum with General Dynamics, a renowned company in the international arms industry, and an industrial cooperation agreement. (…) This is what Romania’s determination to have investments in the Romanian defence industry domain means,” Mihai Fifor told the conference titled “Great projects for Romania’s development” at the Parliament Palace.
The minister pointed out that during all the meetings with foreign partners, both he and Prime Minister Mihai Tudose and Deputy Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu communicated that Romania “is not going shopping on Romanians’ money”, but intends to bring technology programmes into the defence industry, industrial partnership agreements and technology transfer.
“Therefore, based on these agreements signed between Romarm, the Bucharest Mechanical Plant and General Dynamics, Romania is due to produce 8×8 armoured personnel carriers, the main beneficiaries of these carriers being, in the first instance, the Romanian Army,” Fifor said.
The minister said that next year, procedures for “the procurement, respectively the construction in Romania of four corvettes to endow the Romanian Naval Forces are planned to begin.”
Fifor mentioned some other programmes considered for the Army’s endowment, as “a combination between procuring and producing in Romania.”
“The cooperation that we have with IAR Ghimbav is very important, namely Airbus, for the procurement of medium-class helicopters. These helicopters will be produced on the production line in Brasov. (…) On the other hand, the first documents with a renowned company in the production of helicopters have been signed, I am referring to Bell Helicopters, for 45 helicopters. It is, basically, the very first time this company will produce helicopters outside the United States and they want to bring to Romania a production line,” he stated.
The minister also pointed out, in the context of the French President’s visit to Romania, the Memorandum signed with the French company MBDA, a producer of missiles with Ploiesti Mechanical Plant, our country being due to produce “short and very short-range missiles.”
“What all these programmes are doing is to bring back money in the Romanian defence industry, revitalizing this extremely important sector, on the one hand, for the national security interest that we have, and on the other hand for boosting an extremely profitable industry,” Fifor further stated.