The Romanian subsidiary of Israel’s Elbit Systems has received a $120 million order from a general contractor to manufacture weapons for Mowag Piranha-5 armored personnel carriers ordered by the Romanian Defense Ministry, the company said Friday.
According to the Agerpres news agency, the manufacturer of the Piranha-5, the American-owned company General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS), ordered for them from Elbit remote-controlled turrets with automatic 30-mm cannons, 12.7-mm machine guns and 120-mm mortars, which will be produced at the company’s four Romanian plants in Bacau and Magurele over the next three years.
The Romanian Ministry of Defense signed a contract with GDELS for the purchase of 227 Piranha-5 armored personnel carriers worth about € 900 million. For the production of combat vehicles in Romania, the general contractor signed a cooperation contract with the Bucharest Engineering Plant (UMB) last year. The first 36 vehicles (still produced in Switzerland) were received by the Romanian army in 2020. The next 32 pieces have already been assembled in Bucharest, another 26 will also be assembled in Bucharest.
According to a report published on Hotnews.ro, 133 armored personnel carriers for the troops, which will be entirely produced in Romania, will now be equipped with turrets, cannons, machine guns and mortars from Elbit, also produced in Romania.
In February of this year, the Romanian Ministry of Defense requested parliamentary approval for the purchase of another 150 Piranha-5 armored personnel carriers. The cost of their acquisition was estimated by the Romanian Ministry of Defense at € 674 million.
Source: eadaily
