Ministry of Defence asks Parliament for initial approval on acquisition of 200 Patriot missiles

  The joint standing bureaus of the Parliament took note, on Monday, of the request of the Ministry of National Defence for the initiation, through the General Directorate for Armaments, of the procedure for the purchase of 200 PAC-2 GEM-T missiles for Patriot surface-to-air missile systems."In the context of the security crisis in the region, for the operationalisation and strengthening of the ground-based air defence capability related to the essential endowment programme 'High-range surface-to-air missile system (HSAM)'/PATRIOT provided for by Law no. 222/2017, in addition to the number of missiles related to the two stages of the PATRIOT programme, it is necessary to partially supplement the combat stocks with 200 PAC-2 GEM-T missiles, which will be purchased through the NATO Support and Procurement Agency/NSPA), using the ESSI initiative (European SKy Shield Initiative) led by Germany," reads the MApN request addressed to the leadership of the Parliament.According to this document, the purchase will be made by NSPA by awarding a contract to the COMLOG/Germany Company, for the manufacture of missiles, and through an FMS (Foreign Military Sales) type LOA (Letter of Offer and Acceptance) agreement with the US Government, for the approval of the missiles manufactured in Europe."According to what was communicated by the NSPA representatives, the maximum unit price is around EUR 5,444,750, without VAT, and the estimated total cost for the entire missile package is EUR 1,088,950,000 without VAT (includes spare parts, related services and FMS costs) and will be precisely established after the initiation of the procedures for awarding the purchase contract. The initial advance, of approximately 35% of the estimated total value of the entire package must be paid in 2023 or the first quarter of 2024," shows the document sent to the specialized committees, which will later be submitted to the approval of the plenum of the Parliament.The increase of the MApN budget, starting in 2023, to 2.5% of GDP, ensured the conditions for the initiation of purchases strictly necessary for the acceleration of the modernisation of the Romanian Army, it is mentioned in the request.