Piranha 5 armored vehicles to be entirely produced at the Bucharest Mechanical Plant

General Dynamics European Land Systems signed a joint venture with Uzina Mecanică București (UMB) on Tuesday, and the next unit of Piranha 5 armoured vehicles for the Romanian Army will be entirely manufactured in the Capital unit, as well as potential future export orders.

The Romanian Army has signed a framework contract with General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) for 227 Piranha 5 fighting vehicles for about 900 million euros. The contract was also signed in partnership with UMB, where some of the first batch carriers received the final assembly, but blasting and painting operations were also performed.

In addition, until now, both the turret (Elbit) and the optical elements (ProOptica) were made in Romania.

Now, with the new joint venture between GDELS and UMB, the next batch of Piranha 5 would be produced, in phases, to an even greater degree at the plant in Bucharest, including the carcass and armor part. The target would be in the future that also the tankers would be produced for the export market, especially in countries such as Slovakia, the Czech Republic or Bulgaria.

The first 36 conveyors were built in Mowag (Switzerland) and were delivered in 2020. They are already operational in the Land Forces.

Another 32 Piranha 5 carriers, with a final assembly at UMB, were delivered in November 2021 and will be put into service by the Land Forces.

A new batch of 26 Piranha 5 conveyors in different configurations (finally assembled at UMB) is to be delivered by the end of 2022, while those 133 Piranha 5 conveyors completely produced and assembled in Romania will be delivered to the Romanian army in the coming years.