Romania’s Very Short and Short Range Air Defense (V/SHORAD) acquisition program has been awarded to Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
The Romanian Ministry of National Defense chose the 1.9 billion euro ($2.23 billion) deal after a competitive bidding procedure conducted by the nation’s arms procurement agency.
According to a ministry press statement, the contracting body informed the participating economic actors of the outcome of the award process “after completing a competitive procedure.”
“The award procedure is to be completed by signing the framework agreement between the contracting authority and the economic operator chosen as the winner, with no appeals made following the communications.” The Romanian parliament approved the acquisition in 2020, but the procedure didn’t start until 2023.
Following the elimination of MBDA and Diehl Defence, the Romanian media earlier reported that Rafael was the sole remaining participant in the competition.
LIG Nex1, a South Korean company, was eliminated at an earlier stage.
While the precise system to be purchased has not been formally revealed, Rafael is said to have proposed its Spyder short- and medium-range mobile air defense system for the competition.
Rafael’s Python-5 or Derby missiles, which have ranges of 40 kilometers (25 miles) and 80 kilometers (50 miles), respectively, are utilized by the system as interceptors.
With the sale of Israel Aerospace Industries Arrow 3 air defense system to Germany for more than $4 billion, it will be the second-largest agreement made by an Israeli defense company.
