Romania to buy a battalion of American Abrams tanks, announces Lieutenant General Teodor Incicaș, head of the General Directorate for Armaments/ What other military materials and equipment are being purchased

Romania will buy a battalion of Abrams tanks, Lieutenant General Teodor Incicaș, head of the General Directorate for Armaments – the structure in charge of public procurement at the Ministry of National Defence – told Military Observer in an interview.

It concerns 54 Abrams tanks, according to Euronews.

Incicaș discussed the ongoing and planned procurement programs, explaining at length several aspects related to the procurement of military materials and equipment:

• „(…) Regarding procurement with rolling contracts in progress, I would like to add the framework agreement of 2,902 transport platforms we have with Iveco, which locates a significant part of its production in Romania.
• Also related to this program, we have a framework agreement for the purchase of trailers from Automecanica Mediaș. At the same time, we are continuing our programs for the purchase of ground radar systems and the sensor system for ground brigades.
• Although it is not such a complex program, we are continuing the procurement of the communications system of the South-East Multinational Corps Command. Now, referring to the programs whose procurement is under way, I would like to mention the procurement of man-portable missile air defense systems, the so-called MANPADs.
• I would also like to mention three acquisitions on electronic warfare systems, the acquisition of airfield approach guidance radars and two major acquisitions that we are about to start, namely 1059 light armoured tactical vehicles and the acquisition of brigade-level command points and information systems for battalion headquarters, acquisitions which, I repeat, we are about to start very soon and I am talking within two to three weeks.
• At the same time, last year we signed the contract for tactical-operational UASs with the Israeli company Elbit. This year we are to sign the first follow-on contract. We have, as I said at the beginning, subject to the prior approval of Parliament, the additional procurement of 150 Piranha V. These days we are sending to the Romanian Parliament, for prior approval, the procurement of three battalions of self-propelled tracked howitzers.
• Also the infantry tracked fighting machines, short and very short-range air defense systems and two types of missiles for F-16. At the same time, our requests for approval of the purchase of an Abrams tank battalion are on their way to Parliament for prior approval.
• And we are also talking about a new package for the realization of maritime combat capabilities, namely the acquisition of submarines, the acquisition of mine-hunting vessels and the modernization of missile-carrying vessels.
• As far as this tank is concerned, I am amused because everyone imagines ok it is an old tank, without knowing the specific American system of upgrading the tank, because we are talking about bringing a tank into a company, completely ‘stripping’ it, treating it so that, of course, the protection system is one that satisfies and equipping it with new equipment, in accordance with the version we require.
• Why Abrams? Very simply, because the Land Forces General Staff considered that for the mission of the brigade it wants to reinforce with this type of tank, it is the best means and has a uniqueness of its own in carrying out missions.
• And here we are talking about products that will be bought as such and will be part of the army’s equipment, or will they also be produced in part, assembled in Romania? As we are talking about a battalion, the product will be bought through a Government-to-Government procurement, it will not be sold in a commercial system with a direct relationship with the company,” said Lieutenant General Teodor Incicaș, head of the Directorate General for Armaments – the structure in charge of public procurement at MApN level”.

Translated