Romanian letter of intent for Scorpene submarines

The Romanian defence budget will also include the purchase of French Scorpene class submarines and [Hexagon surveillance systems? for Romania'sIAR 330) ?] military helicopters, Vasile Dîncu, the Minister of National Defense, declared [on July 14, 2022] in an interview given to DC News.

"We have signed a letter of intent with the French Minister of Defense for a future project and we have begun the process of bringing the new equipment to Parliament: it is about Scorpene submarines and helicopters.It is a letter of intent made with the French government. We have learned the lessons about what is happening now in Ukraine. That is why we want to see in the next period whether the initial programming of the Defence 2040 Budget (a budget passed two years ago by the Supreme Council of National Defence) still corresponds to the current requirements or not ", said Minister Dîncu.

Minister Dîncu mentioned that at the moment his Department is working on a new project regarding the defence budget, which means shorter deadlines for military acquisitions. "But we have to keep in mind that this war has created a very strong competitive market, but also a lack of products on the armaments market. In order to be able to order in naval equipment, there are now terms of 5-7 years. We have a few budget programs that are underway - 10 programs - that are currently in operation or in various phases - such as electronic warfare programs, command systems, drones - but it is clear that we need, beyond the legislative and bureaucratic obstacles, a much clearer and faster system ", specified Minister Dîncu.

Regarding defence industry offsets to contracts for the purchase of military equipment, the relevant minister said that there is a need to amend the current legislation. This is due to some major technological changes and some obligations that have not been met.

"The best offset is when we manage to bring in foreign investors and build in our country; that's the future aim. A memorandum has recently been signed for SkyCeptor missiles that are integrated into Patriot systems, missiles that are hopefully cheaper. We will produce them in Ploieşti [Rumania]. We already produce in Romania Piranha V armoured vehicles transported?by Iveco trucks. There is the Israeli company Elbit Systems in Romania which produces a lot of anti-aircraft systems and exports a lot of what it produces here. A great advantage we have is that Israel and other neighbouring states want to produce here. This is because I believe that we can be suppliers of equipment and military equipment in this region ", said Minister Dîncu.

• Vasile Dîncu: "The national defense industry has two aspects"

He said the national defence industry could benefit from rapid development following NATO's establishment of the Defense Innovation Accelerator [for the North Atlantic] (DIANA), which is funded in the first stage by 2 billion euros.

"I hope there will be competition, for now there is a dependence on factories in Serbia, Ukraine (which is no longer producing) and other areas.I express my hope that the Romanian Economics Ministry will manage this by the end of the year to seriously start the investment at the munitions factory in Făgăraş", said Minister Dîncu.

Defense investments are necessary, because the NewNATO Strategic Concept adopted at the Madrid Summit, which took place in late June 2022, does not only mean a stronger Romanian military in quantity, but also an advances in the quality of military structures, said Minister Dîncu.

"We do not only bring troops, but we have the possibility to improve bases, weapons stocks, to move, from Air Patrols, to preparedness in reaction to  attack. This means that bases are being built for air defense, more aircraft and all this missile and anti-aircraft defense structures. Also on the New Strategic Concept we will have a fuel and energy supply system on NATO's Eastern Flank, which will be supplied by the oil and natural gas pipelines of the NATO member states. Moreover, the multinational brigade commands we already have will be fortified ", said Minister Dîncu.

Regarding the current geopolitical and geostrategic context, Defence Minister Dîncu mentioned that "it is not foreseen that the conflict in the Black Sea will affect the Romanian civilian sector, civilian merchant ships".

Minister Dîncu specified that so far more than 20 mines from the Russian-Ukrainian conflict zone have reached Romainian waters and have been defused.