The Ministry of Defense of Romania finally chose the tank that should strengthen the country's defense capabilities, and it became the US Abrams. And it will become the third country in Europe, after Poland and Ukraine, where this combat vehicle will be in service.
The Head of the General Directorate for Armaments of Romania, Major General Teodor Incicaș, announced this, as Defense Romania reports.
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The Defense Department is already preparing a corresponding request to the country's parliament, which must grant permission, after which all bureaucratic procedures related to obtaining permission from the United States, agreeing on the price, terms, and finally signing the agreement must be launched.
The cost of the purchase is still unknown, as is the Abrams version itself. And this case is much more complicated than even with the Leopard 2 tanks. But the number of tanks that Bucharest wants to purchase is already known: 54 units, which corresponds to a standard NATO tank battalion.
Defense Express notes that the number of vehicles can already give approximate information about the possible value of the contract. In particular, 250 M1A2 Abrams SEPv3 cost Poland 4.75 billion dollars together with ammunition, spare parts and all related services. According to this proportion, for Romania 54 units may be worth about 1 billion dollars, if new tanks are purchased on the same terms.
In this situation the choice of Abrams is clear, because the example of Norway shows that a similar number of 54 Leopard 2A7 cost 1.96 billion dollars. At the same time, it is extremely difficult to consider this as good news for the German KMW, since a big client has been lost.
The issue of rearming the Romanian army with new tanks is already "overdue". Currently, the ground forces of Romania operate 377 tanks, 220 of which are the T-55AM, and the rest are own modernizations of this vehicle, namely 103 units of the TR-85 and 54 units of the TR-85M1 Bizonul.
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