The Minister of Defense, Radu Miruta presented to the Government on Monday a list of 21 weapons projects through the SAFE project, totaling 9.53 billion euros.
Miruta explained that the SAFE project is very advantageous for Romania, but drew attention to the fact that the national defense industry must "unwind".
"I must mention something that is thrown into the public space, that it is loan money and that there is no benefit. That there is no benefit is untrue, because it is not as if there was an option for Romania not to purchase. The Ministry of Defense has a multi-annual acquisition plan, which lists the products that the Ministry will buy in the next 5 years, a plan approved by the CSAT - the Romanian Parliament. The existing option was to acquire with some money at a very high cost or to use this mechanism, which basically involves extracting from the long-term acquisition plan for several years and moving it to be financed through this European mechanism. It is a significant advantage. Another advantage is that we are forced to demonstrate that we manage to produce in a very short time. Even in the private sector, in a year and a half - two, at most earlier, a factory is completed. We want to make it completed in some cases, to complete production by 2030. It is a challenge, for which governments over time have failed this test, of the pressure to deliver very quickly", said Radu Miruta.
He also mentioned a third advantage of this financing mechanism.
"Another third advantage is the revitalization of the national defense industry. I have often said, truly, in part of the production halls vegetation grows. And the expectation is that in those halls where every year we measure the evolution according to how high the tree has grown, we want to produce state-of-the-art technology", the dignitary argued.
The Minister of Defense specified that, through the SAFE mechanism, there will be cooperation between companies that have state-of-the-art licenses and technology with national defense factories.
"Yes, several segments of the national defense industry will be dismantled and it is a challenge that, after they are dismantled, they will have the capacity to produce for other programs, after this one ends", added Radu Miruta.
Of the 21 projects related to the Defense Ministry (MApN), 10 are joint acquisitions with other states, and 11 are individual acquisitions by the Romanian state.
"Just a few examples of joint procurements: the joint contract with France for Mistral missiles has already been signed - 652 million euros, it is a joint procurement with six other states; 12 H225 helicopters, the newer model, which will be taken from France; 12 radars - joint procurement with France; 3 air defense systems that will complement the Patriot system - joint procurement with Germany; two centralization systems for anti-aircraft command - joint procurement with Germany", the Romanian official also said.
List of the 21 acquisition projects through the SAFE program:
* 8x8/Piranha 5 armored personnel carriers - 139 products, value: 761 million euros;
* Multifunctional wheeled transport and logistics platforms - at least 1,370 vehicles, value: 471 million euros;
* Integrated air and missile defense command post - 2 systems, value: 160 million euros;
* Diver intervention star - 2 ships; value: 57 million euros;
* Offshore patrol vessel (OPV) - 2; value: 700 million euros;
* H225M multi-mission helicopters - at least 12; value: 852 million euros;
* Naval Strike Missile (NSM) systems - 7 systems; value: 207 million euros;
* Individual infantry weapons and ammunition to NATO standards - approximately 240,000 individual weapons, value: 439 million euros;
* Tracked Infantry Fighting Vehicle - MLI - 198 vehicles, value: 2.98 billion euros;
* Integrated Real-time Training Simulation System - 1 system, value: 94 million euros;
* Software platform for C4ISR systems - 70 instances, value: 19 million euros;
* Man-portable air defense system - MANPAD - 231 systems with 934 missiles, value: 625 million euros;
* 7 Very Short Range Air Defense Systems with C-UAS and C-RAM capabilities (SKYNEX), deployable - 7 systems, value: 476 million euros;
* 2 Very Short Range Air Defense Systems (V-SHORAD) with C-UAS and C-RAM capabilities Skyranger 35mm, mobile - 2 systems, value: 330 million euros;
* 12 Medium Range Radar Detection Systems - 12 systems, value: 258 million euros;
* 3 Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (SBAMD(L)-MR/SBAMD(L)-M-MR) - 3 systems, value: 450 million euros;
* Loitering Munition Strike Systems - 70 systems, value: 147 million euros;
* 2 Very Short Range Naval Air Defence Systems with C-UAS and C-RAM Capabilities (Millennium) - 2 systems, value: 36 million euros;
* Drone system for surveillance and information gathering of class 1, mini-UAS - 56 systems/22 already contracted, value: 45.7 million euros;
* 35 mm ammunition through NSPA (CRAM - Oerlikon + Skyranger) - 87,000 rounds, value: 23.1 million euros;
* 35 mm ammunition (CRAM - Oerlikon + Skyranger, including AHEAD programmable explosive ammunition) - 400,000 rounds, value: 393 million euros.
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