Romania's Ministry of Defense reported that from January 29 to February 4, Romanian and American military personnel conducted joint training at Smârdan training ground, we're talking about tactical exercises at unit level, practicing troop command, as well as combat firing both day and night; the goal is to raise the training level and operational compatibility of Romanian and U.S. armies.
Defense Romania reports on exercises, citing data from the country's defense department. It's noted that Romania was represented at trials by fighters from the 284th Tank Battalion "Cuza Voda." From the Romanian side, four TR-85M1 Bizonul tanks participated in the event; from the American side, five M1A2 SEPv2 Abrams tanks.
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Crews' task during exercises was first to delay the enemy, and later deliver a counterattack. It's noted that parties will periodically conduct similar exercises.
As stated by Romanian military representative Lieutenant Colonel Mihai Benescu, the exercise goals were achieved, but with minor issues related to weather and low temperatures. However, according to him, the repair brigade was able to identify and eliminate shortcomings quickly.
At the same time, of course, one of the important points in training was to get a closer acquaintance with Abrams tanks, in the context that Romania ordered 54 such vehicles in the M1A2 SEP v3 version; the first tanks should be delivered this year.
Based on the exercise results, a significant difference was observed in favor of Abrams compared to the tanks available in the Romanian army.
From Defense Express, we note that in the context of modern war, such exercises hardly have great practical significance because, at a minimum (at least from available photos and videos), not a single vehicle at the exercises was equipped with any anti-drone protection, which is critically necessary in the FPV drone era.
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