PARIS --- The Romanian Army will purchase American Abrams tanks to equip one battalion, according to the head of the General Directorate for Armaments in Romania’s Ministry of Defense.
Lt. Gen. Teodor Incicaș, head of the General Directorate for Armaments, said on Tuesday that "The requests for the purchase of a single battalion of Abrams tanks are on their way to the prior approval of the Parliament,” adding that “Regarding this tank, I'm amused that everyone imagines that we will buy an old tank, without knowing the specifics of American tank modernization."
Incicas's statements were made during an interview with Observatorul Militar, the Romanian defense ministry’s newspaper.
Since the tanks will equip a single battalion, they will be bought through a government-to-government agreement, and not by a commercial sale directly from the manufacturer, Incicaș said.
He added that “We are in the process of moving towards the prior approval of the Parliament of our requests regarding the approval of the purchase of a battalion of Abrams tanks” and other defense procurement programs.
Incicaș added that “The General Staff of the Land Forces considered that for the mission of the brigade that it wants to strengthen, Abrams is the best, and has a uniqueness in carrying out the missions. The tanks will be procured through a government-to-government procurement.”
It is not yet known how much the purchase of Abrams tanks will cost, nor how far Romannian defense industry will be involved.
During the interview, Incicas also mentioned several ongoing or imminent defense procurement programs:
--We have launched, subject to the prior approval of the Parliament, the purchase of 150 additional Piranha Vs. These days we are also sending to Parliament, for its prior approval, the purchase of three battalion’s worth of tracked self-propelled howitzers.
--We also plan to purchase a tracked infantry fighting vehicle, short- and very short-range air defense systems and two types of missiles for the F-16.
--We are talking about a new package to improve naval combat capabilities, namely the acquisition of submarines, the acquisition of mine-hunting ships and the modernization of our missile-carrying ships.
--Regarding purchases with running contracts in progress, I would like to mention the framework agreement for 2,902 transport platforms that we have with the Iveco company, which locates an important part of production in Romania. Also, related to this program, we have a framework agreement regarding the purchase of trailers from Automecanica Mediaș. At the same time, we are continuing the land-based radar systems and sensor system acquisition programs for the land brigades.
-- We are continuing the acquisition of the South-Eastern Multinational Corps Command communications system.
--Referring to the programs whose acquisition is underway, I would like to mention the acquisition of man-portable missile air defense systems, the so-called MANPADs.
-- I would like to mention three more procurement programs for electronic warfare systems, for airfield approach radars and for two major procurements that we are about to start, namely for 1,059 light armored tactical vehicles and the procurement of brigade-level command points and computer systems for the battalion-type commands. These are purchases that we are going to start very soon --I'm talking within two to three weeks.
--Last year, we signed the contract for tactical-operational UAS with Israel’s Elbit. This year, we are going to sign the first follow-on contract.
-ends-
