BUCHAREST, (BM) – Romanian Prime Minister Ludovic Orban took part in the ceremony of receiving the American Patriot anti-aircraft missile system, learned BulgarianMilitary.com citing the press service of the Romanian government.
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“I am delighted to be present at the historic moment when the first Patriot missile system hit Romania. Romania has made it clear that it has chosen to be a NATO member, to be a strategic partner of the United States, to be an EU member state,” Orban said.
He added that the Romanian side fulfills all obligations within the unions, and is also engaged in re-equipping the army and strengthening its potential.
According to Orban, Patriot has shown exceptional results in combat, and Romania has become safer after these complexes entered its territory.
Romania’s plans to purchase Patriot air defense systems were announced back in 2017. Then the country considered the purchase of the complexes as a key part of the program for the modernization of the armed forces of the EU countries.
In April 2020, the media reported that Romania sent another request to the United States to purchase Patriot complexes.
Romania plans to invest €2.5B to reconstruct Black Sea Air Base
Following the tensions in Romania over the anti-Saudi air defense system from Bucharest, a statement was announced last year that the state plans to spend an additional 2,5 billion euros to “improve the security system”.
In Romania, it must be recalled, there is an American missile defense facility.
Thus, the Romanian Ministry of Defense, as the Romania-Insider and Profit.ro publications write, plans to reconstruct the military base of Michal (Mikhail) Kogalnichana. This is an air base located not far from the Black Sea coast of Romania.
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The main military department of Romania notes that financing for the reconstruction will be carried out in stages – over 20 years, all funds are budgetary. The end result should be as follows: the air base must comply with all NATO standards, including the standards of the alliance for the adoption and maintenance of military aircraft.
From the report: “The base of Mikhail Kogalnichan should not only accommodate the Romanian F-16 air wing, but also F-35 fighters. There will also be a NATO contingent.“
It is noteworthy that the talk about the willingness to fork out for the reconstruction of the air base came after a meeting of the presidents of Romania and the United States. Klaus Johannis discussed the issues of “improving the country’s security system, including military infrastructure.” The head of the Romanian government Vasilika Viorica Danchile discussed the same issues in the USA.
In the reconstruction project: construction of facilities on an area of 30 ha, updating of infrastructure on an area of about 300 ha. New buildings alone will cost the Romanian budget 1,57 billion euros. The base will include (besides, of course, the runway) two large barracks for military personnel, a hostel for families, a hospital, an officer club, a training camp, playgrounds and recreation areas, a sports hall with a swimming pool, a shop, a school and two kindergartens for children of military personnel, own power substation. The total perimeter of the base will be 76 km. According to the country’s Defense Ministry, the base will be able to accommodate about 8 thousand soldiers and officers, in peak situations – up to 10 thousand.
Romanian media recalled that the United States promised to make a contribution of $ 22 million to start the reconstruction of the base, Mikhail Kogalnichanu, but in the end, Trump sent these funds to the construction fund for the wall on the border with Mexico.
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Romania will produce Piranha 5 armored vehicle for its army
General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) has started on November 6th last year the production of PIRANHA 5 vehicles at the factory of its strategic Romanian partner Uzina Mecanică București (UMB) which marks an important milestone in the PIRANHA 5 Program for the Romanian Army.
The production start ceremony was attended by the Prime Minister of Romania, Ludovic Orban, the Minister of Defence, General (ret.) Nicolae Ciuca, and the Ministry of Economy, Energy, Business Environment and Tourism, Virgil Popescu, as well as the US Ambassador to Romania, Hans Klemm, and Swiss Ambassador to Romania, Arthur Mattli.
In January 2018, and as part of the Romanian Army’s plan to modernize its legacy wheeled armored vehicle fleet, GDELS signed a contract with the Romanian Army to deliver up to 227 PIRANHA 5 wheeled armored vehicles in six different configurations. The modern PIRANHA 5 vehicles will be produced in Romania under a strategic cooperation and transfer of technology project between GDELS – Mowag and the Romanian company Uzina Mecanică București (UMB).
“The strategic cooperation between GDELS and the UMB is an excellent example on how we plan to modernize our Armed Forces with modern technology. It also represents a great opportunity for our Romanian economy to strengthen and sustain our national industry base in this important segment including export opportunities. I am proud to say, that 80% of the investment we take in this project will return to the benefit of our local economy.” stated Prime Minister of Romania, Mr. Ludovic Orban.
”We are deeply honoured and grateful that Prime Minister Orban, Minister of Economy Popescu and Minister of National Defense General ret. Ciuca have attended our opening ceremony today and I would like to emphasize the strong and clear commitment of GDELS to become the strategic land systems supplier for the Romanian Army.
The opening of the local production line at UMB marks a first major step in establishing our sustainable collaboration with trusted Romanian partners” said Dr. Thomas Kauffmann, GDELS Vice President. “The vast transfer of technology and the local production of the PIRANHA 5 also represents an enormous opportunity to the Romanian industry for the future.”
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“Romania has proven once again that it has the capacity to produce in country high end military products. The UMB facility has been modernized and brought to international standards thanks to this contract and is now a modern production facility for a key project of our military procurement programs. The collaboration with GDELS will bring UMB in a leading position among our Romanian military industry”, said Mihai Rafiu, General Director UMB.
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