PM Orban inaugurates Bucharest production of the Piranha V armored vehicle

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban has inaugurated, this morning, the production and maintenance capacity for the Piranha V armored vehicle at Bucharest Mechanical Factory. Event has been attended by the Ministers of Economy, Energy, Business Environment and Defense. On this occasion, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban has said that his Government wants to develop the national defense industry and it will respect all international commitments made by Romania.

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban:We guarantee we will continue to allocate 2% of the GDP for the defense, in accordance with Romania’s commitments, which ensures coherence of acquisition of deterrence and defense capabilities, as well as accomplishment of the Romanian army endowment plan in terms of quality assurance, compatibility and interoperability with other NATO and EU Member States. All these represent measures we will not deviate from and we will follow with maximum responsibility.

The first Piranha V armored vehicles should have been delivered as early as February this year, but US manufacturer General Dynamics could not honor the contract in time, due to manufacturing problems. For this delay, US company paid Romanian Ministry of National Defense penalties worth 8,5 million euros.

Romanian Army is to receive 227 Piranha armored vehicles, total value of the contract being about 870 million euros.

Source:RRA.Translated by Miruna Matei