According to a report by the Romanian hotnews website, the framework agreement was signed for the supply of a “tactical-operational UAV system class II”. The report is based on a statement from the Romanian Ministry of Defense.
The procurement will be carried out through a local company called CN Romtehnica SA. The approval of the contract framework from 2021 (then it was not yet clear who the winning contractor was) can be found here: legislatie.just.ro.
As part of the deal, Romania will receive the Watchkeeper-X version based on the Hermes 450, a version similar to the one sold to the British Army. These are seven systems, 21 tools (18 million euros per unit) and as part of the deal, Elbit will transfer technology to Romania for local production and maintenance.
The Watchkeeper UAV is manufactured by U-TacS, a partnership between Elbit and Thales, the European partner. The Romanians want to arm the drones, so that they are suitable for quick closing of the circle – intelligence gathering and attack. U-TacS is located in Leicester, UK.
According to the terms of the deal, starting with the first Watchkeeper X system, the production of the aerial platform structure and the production of the ground control station structure, as well as the production of electrical and mechanical components will be carried out in Romania.
Starting with the third system, the production of all related electrical and mechanical systems will take place in Romania. At the same time, maintenance operations during the life cycle of the systems will be performed by local contractors. So in crisis and war situations there is no need to carry out these operations outside the territory of Romania.
Elbit has been operating in Romania for several years, including the production of turrets for rocket launchers and UAV parts.