Defence Minister Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca and the chief of Defence Staff , Lieutenant General Daniel Petrescu, participated on Monday, 5th October, at Uzina Mecanica Bucuresti S.A, in the closure of the stage marking the qualitative reception of the first lot of 8x8, PIRANHA V APCs.

The first 36 PIRANHA V APCs will be delivered to their beneficiaries, the Red Scorpions from Craiova, after having their qualitative reception made. I am confident that these will also pass their operational testing process and will perfectly fit within the Land Forces' units , which need a vehicle that can provide for their mobility, increased fire power but also more protection during their mission accomplishment, Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca said.

Defence minister emphasized that the closure of the qualitative reception of the first lot of PIRANHA V APC is an important moment for this major procurement program, initiated by the Romanian Armed Forces in 2017, the first year when the Government started allocating 2%of the DPG for defence expenditures. The fundamental goal of these defence acquisitions is to guarantee the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Romania. We shall reach this desideratum if we build types of forces and capabilities that will enable us to fight back to all possible aggressors. Our national defence is based on our NATO, EU and other international organizations memberships, as well as on the strategic partnership with the US and the other strategic ones, but, above all, we have the duty to rely on ourselves and the national defence and security institutions, minister Ciuca stated.

The chief of Defence Staff stated that the 8X8 APCs major procurement program is an essential step in process of increasing the quantity and quality of the Land Forces' capabilities. The PIRANHA V platforms, in all their configurations, together with the current capabilities and the ones that are currently being procured or modernized, consolidate the defence posture of the Romanian Armed Forces by contributing to the strengthening of our defence capacity. The increase of the entire spectrum of the operative capacities of the national defence system is a requirement in the current regional and global security context ', Lieutenant General Daniel Petrescu stated.

The event was also attended by representatives of the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Business Environment, and of General Dynamics European Land Systems - Mowag GmbH.

According to the current provisions of the contract, after having finalized the qualitative reception process, the supplier will ensure the transportation of the vehicles to Craiova, where the soldiers will perform the quantitative reception of the APCs which will equip the Land Forces starting this month.

The Ministry of National Defence continues its strategic orientation by committing at maximum extent the national defence industry, which will consist in continuing manufacturing and integrating the components of the 8x8 Armored Personnel Carrier Major Procurement Program at la Uzina Mecanica Bucuresti S.A.

Also, the programme ensures the adequate economic framework for the involvement of other Romanian economic operators, which will lead to the horizontal development of the national defence industry. Thus, the programme will set the conditions for the provision of a complex maintenance process and a joint logistic support in the country throughout the entire lifecycle of the equipment.

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The goal of 8x8 Armored Personnel Carrier Major Procurement Program is to equip the formations and the maneuver, combat support and logistic support units with tactical vehicles that can provide for the mobility of the forces in the area of operations and the combat support of the military actions.

Thus, according to the provisions of Government Ordinance no. 852/2017, the Ministry of National Defence signed a framework-agreement with GDELS-Mowag Company (General Dynamics European Land Systems - Mowag GmbH) for the delivery of 227 PIRANHA V APCs and derivatives and the initial logistic support, the total value of the contract amounting to aproximately 868 million Euros. A subsequent contract for the first 94 carriers was signed based on the framework-agreement.

The Press Office