The Romanian Army will acquire three High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), each with 18 launching facilities, the total cost of the programme being of about EUR 1.5 billion, VAT included, according to a draft law approved by the Government on Thursday and which will have to be adopted in Parliament, hotnews.ro informs.
HIMARS systems, among the most advanced in the world endows the US Army and other allied forces and can hit terrestrial targets up to 300 km by using intelligent GPS-guided munitions and inertial systems.
According to the statement of reason, the MoD has chosen the HIMARS-type multiple missile launcher as “the only multiple missile launcher in NATO that can hit targets up to 300 km, with the potential to increase the range in the future” .
At the same time, the HIMARS system is “interoperable with the equipments of NATO countries” and “is a system that is combat proven.”
The Executive has also approved the acquirement by the army of four multifunctional corvettes and the modernization of the two T22R-type frigates of the Navy forces – a Government Decision reads, setting out the specific conditions of the acquisition procedure. The total value of the investment project is about EUR 1.6 billion, VAT included, and involves the construction of the four corvettes by a naval shipyard in Romania, the first is to be delivered in 3 years.