Romania could order Scorpène submarines from Naval Group this year

Like many European countries, Romania considerably reduced its defense effort from the 2000s, when the country joined NATO in 2004 and the European Union in 2007. Indeed, it went from 2,5% of GDP in 2000 to 1,2% of GDP in 2012. However, due to a very dynamic economy with a GDP multiplied by 7 between 2000 and 2020, defense spending has experienced a increasing, rising from $1 billion in 2000 to $2,4 billion in 2012. And like the majority of Eastern European countries, Bucharest undertook, from 2014 and the Russian intervention in Ukraine, to rebuild its military forces. Thus, today, the Romanian armies have an annual budget of more than $6 billion, representing 2% of GDP. Moreover, the Romanian government is committed to bringing the defense effort to 2,5% of GDP, even as the country's economic growth exceeds 7%. In fact, by 2025, the Romanian defense budget will exceed $10 billion, 10 times what it was in 2000.

This influx of means allows the staffs to undertake extensive force modernization programs, in particular to make the transition from equipment dating from the Soviet era to standard NATO equipment. Thus, in recent months, Bucharest has negotiated the acquisition of some forty Used F-16 from Norway, as well as 54 M1A1 Abrams heavy tanks which will be taken from the US National Guard fleet. The country had already announced the acquisition in 2020 of HIMARS systems and 7 Patriot PAC-3 batteries. At the beginning of the week, the Romanian Ministry of Defense also confirmed that it was engaged in the acquisition of F-35A Lighting 2, without however specifying the number or the timetable. The country indeed shares almost 650 km of borders with Ukraine in conflict with Russia, and as much with Moldova, also threatened by Moscow.

In the naval field, Bucharest had awarded, in July 2019, the construction of 4 Gowind 2500 corvettes and the modernization of Type 22 frigates acquired second-hand from the Royal Navy, to a joint venture formed by the French Naval Group and the local shipyard Santierul Naval Constanta (SNC). Since then, the program has been on hold due to numerous protest procedures undertaken by the Dutch Damen and the Italian Fincantieri, threatening the modernization of the Romanian fleet, which is nevertheless crucial for NATO's control of the Black Sea. Beyond this program, Naval Group could well, in the relatively short term, participate in another major Romanian program. Indeed, the Ministry of Defense has just started, as part of the execution of the 2023 defense budget, the request for parliamentary authorization to begin the construction of modern "diesel submarines", as well as mine warfare vessels.

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