New opportunities for the national defence industry to partner with international companies

New opportunities for the national defence industry to partner with international companies

As part of the Warsaw Security Forum, Minister of National Defence, Liviu-Ionuț Moșteanu, had a series of meetings with representatives of international defence industry companies, namely AIRBUS, MBDA, Raytheon and Shield AI.

The talks agenda focused on industrial cooperation, with an emphasis on the procurement programs aimed at modernizing and equipping the Romanian Armed Forces with state-of-the-art weaponry and equipment.

Minister Moșteanu appreciated the already existing level of collaboration within the ongoing programs and emphasized the broad dimension of the modernization process the Romanian military is engaged in. At the same time, he expressed his confidence that new cooperation opportunities with the Romanian industry will emerge, through which foreign companies will actively participate in the armed forces' modernization and transformation process.

"These meetings confirm our determination to accelerate the modernization of defence capabilities and to build a national industry compatible with the highest allied standards. Through cooperation with leading technological partners, we ensure that the Romanian military personnel benefits from state-of-the-art equipment, adapted to the current security realities," the Minister of Defence stated.

In the talks with MBDA, the officials focused on capitalizing on the SAFE financial instrument and on identifying concrete ways to involve the national defence industry into the future procurement programs.

The dialogue with Raytheon focused on continued cooperation in the field of air and coastal defence, addressing the future implementation stages of the procurement programs, especially of the PATRIOT systems and NSM anti-ship missiles.

As for AIRBUS, the discussions focused on both the use of the SAFE mechanism for supporting joint projects and the development of innovative industrial cooperation solutions, while with Shield AI the officials agreed to continue exploring opportunities of industrial cooperation, particularly the software parts.

By highlighting our country's strategic position in the region, Minister of National Defence pointed out the growing interest in the procurement programs and encouraged the companies' participation in the acquisition procedures to be initiated. The minister has also emphasized that the defence budget already exceeds the 20% threshold for major acquisitions, a level that will be maintained in the coming years, providing stability and continuity to the modernization process.

The Press Office