GDELS-Mowag, UMB start deliveries of Piranha V vehicles to Romanian army

The first 36 Piranha 5 vehicles will arrive in the following days to their final beneficiaries, the defence ministry said in a press release.

"I am confident that they will pass the operational testing well, and will integrate very well within the Land Forces units, which are in great need of a vehicle which can ensure their mobility, increased firepower, but also increased protection when performing their missions," defence minister Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca said.

In January 2018, GDELS-Mowag signed a 868 million euro ($1.02 billion) contract with the Romanian army to deliver up to 227 Piranha 5 wheeled armored vehicles in six different configurations.

Romania, which joined NATO in 2004, plans to spend a total of 9.8 billion euro until 2026 to boost its defence capabilities.

UMB is a subsidiary of state-owned Romanian supplier of military equipment Romarm. The company's main activities are the research, design, production, repair and modernization of armored vehicles.

General Dynamics European Land Systems-Mowag is a Europe based business unit of General Dynamics Corporation. Headquartered in Madrid, GDELS-Mowag employs some 2,400 at its sites in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Spain and Switzerland. Its products range from wheeled armored and tracked combat vehicles to amphibious bridges and ferry systems.

($= 0.8487 euro)