Romania’s Very Short and Short Range Air Defense (V/SHORAD) acquisition program has been granted to Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
The 1.9 billion euro ($2.23 billion) deal from the Romanian Ministry of National Defense comes after a rigorous bidding process conducted by the nation’s arms acquisition body.
“Following a competitive process, the contracting authority informed the economic operators involved about the outcome of the award process,” a ministry press release stated.
“Following the communications, no appeals were made, and the framework agreement between the contracting authority and the economic operator designated as the winner is to be signed in order to complete the award process.” The purchase procedure started in 2023, but the Romanian parliament gave its approval in 2020.
The Romanian media previously stated that Rafael was the sole remaining candidate in the competition after the elimination of Diehl Defence and MBDA.
At an earlier point, South Korea’s LIG Nex1 was eliminated.
Although the precise system to be acquired has not been made public, Rafael is said to have submitted its Spyder short- and medium-range mobile air defense system for the competition.
Derby missiles with ranges of 40 kilometers (25 miles) and 80 kilometers (50 miles) are used by the system as interceptors with Rafael’s Python-5 or Derby missiles.
The transaction will be the second largest by an Israeli defense company, behind the sale of the Israel Aerospace Industries Arrow 3 air defense system to Germany for more than $4 billion.
