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The joint standing bureaus of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies issued on Tuesday the preliminary approval for the initiation by the National Defense Ministry, through the General Directorate for Armaments, of the awarding procedure for the purchase of 32 F-35 multirole combat aircraft, worth 6.5 billion U.S. dollars (VAT excluded), as part of the Fifth-Generation F-35 Multirole Aircraft Procurement through the Foreign Military Sales Security Assistance Program.
"The equipment program is aimed at providing the Romanian Air Force with robust and resilient, credible, interoperable, flexible and efficient defense capabilities, intended both for deterring a potential aggression and for articulating an adequate response to the current and future security challenges, as well as the fulfillment of the commitments undertaken as a NATO and EU member state," the approved memorandum reads.
According to the cited document, the equipment program consists of government-to-government agreements - the government of Romania awards to the U.S. government Letter of Offer and Acceptance contracts specific to the Foreign Military Sales Program, with the object of 32 F-35 aircraft, engines, initial logistics support, training services, FMT simulators, air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions, worth an estimated 6.5 billion U.S. dollars (VAT excluded).
"Romania's military strategy renders operational the defense dimension set forth in the country's 2020 - 2024 National Defense Strategy and specifies the implementation of the defense policy goals and the directions for the development of capabilities derived from the provisions of the 2021 Defense White Paper. For the purpose of fulfilling the national military goals laid out in Romania's Military Strategy, (...) the Concept of achieving the air defense operational capability with 5th-generation multirole aircraft was approved by Resolution of the Supreme Council for National Defense, by equipping the Romanian Forces with F-35 aircraft in two stages: stage I (2 squadrons - 32 aircraft), and stage II (1 squadron - 16 aircraft)," the memorandum explains.
