According to Reuters, South Korea's Hanwha Aerospace said on Wednesday it won a 1.38 trillion won ($1 billion) order from Romania to supply self-propelled howitzers. The deal is Romania's largest arms acquisition deal in seven years and includes 54 K9 howitzers, ammunition and 36 K10 resupply vehicles, South Korea's largest defence company by revenue said. The contract lasts until July 2029, Hanwha Aerospace said. The South Korean arms procurement agency, Defense Acquisition Program Administration, confirmed the details of the deal in a separate statement. Hanwha Aerospace shares rose more than 5% to a record high in early morning trade, versus a 0.1% drop in the wider market. Overseas orders for Hanwha have jumped since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 as countries sought to bolster their arms with quick, reliable supply, analysts said. Hanwha's land defence business has seen its order backlog swell to about 30 trillion won at the end of March this year from 5.1 trillion won at end-2021. Analysts said South Korean defence firms are able to ship arms quickly with lower costs and provide continual maintenance partly due to the economy of scale from supplying the standing armed forces in South Korea, which is still technically at war with North Korea. Hanwha now holds more than 50% share of the global market for howitzer exports, according to data by NH Investment & Securities. "Given that the end of a war does not mean an end to the growth of defence spending, and that (U.S. presidential candidate Donald) Trump explicitly demanded that NATO and other European countries increase their share of defence costs, opportunities are expected to expand" for South Korean defence firms, said Meritz Securities analyst Lee Ji-ho in a note on Tuesday.
An earthquake of magnitude 5.4 shook Romania’s capital Bucharest and parts of Eastern Romania on Monday afternoon, September 16, around 17:40. No damages were reported after the event. According to the National Institute for Earth’s Physics (INFP), the earthquake occurred in the Vrancea seismic area, some 56 km North-West of Buzau and 59 km East […]
Romania and the United States, through the head of the prime minister’s chancellery Alexandru-Mihai Ghigiu, and the US ambassador to Romania, Kathleen Kavalec, have signed a five-year Child Protection Framework Partnership valued at USD 10 million. The purpose of the partnership is to create a victim-centered prevention strategy and protect child victims of trafficking, according […]
A snow layer of around 5 cm has fallen on Romania’s Transalpina mountain road, at altitudes over 1,900 meters, according to Gorj County authorities. The snow is particularly present in the Dengherul - Cărbunele sector, and visibility is reduced due to fog. The Gorj Mountain Rescue Service (Salvamont) advises drivers intending to cross Transalpina over […]
Nobel Prize for Literature winner Abdulrazak Gurnah, Irish novelist, poet and playwright Colm Tóibín, Spanish author Clara Usón, Israeli writer Zeruya Shalev, and French novelist and essayist Pascal Bruckner are among the guests of this year’s Iaşi International Festival of Literature and Translation (FILIT). The event, scheduled to take place between October 23 and October […]
Hanwha Aerospace, the largest defense company in South Korea, will begin construction of an armored vehicle factory in Romania at the beginning of next year, according to News.ro. The group plans to make Romania a regional hub for all Hanwha's land...
Turda Salt Mine (Salina Turda), one of the most spectacular tourist destinations revealing Romania’s underground wonders, will expand under a project set to kick off in 2025. The plan is to open another mine to tourists, which, local authorities say, would double the number of visitors. The project targets the 10,000 sqm Iosif mine, which […]
