GDELS begins Piranha 5 armoured vehicle production in Romania

General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS), part of the US-based General Dynamics Corporation, has begun production of Piranha 5 military vehicles at a facility owned by its Romanian partner Uzina Mecanica Bucuresti (UMB).

The ceremony marking the start of production was attended by the Prime Minister of Romania, Ludovic Orban, the Minister of Defence, General (ret.) Nicolae Ciucă, and the Ministry of Economy, Energy, Business Environment and Tourism, Virgil Popescu, as well as the US Ambassador to Romania, Hans Klemm, and Swiss Ambassador to Romania, Arthur Mattli.

In January 2018, and as part of the Romanian Army’s plan to modernise its legacy wheeled armoured vehicle fleet, GDELS signed a contract with the Romanian Army to deliver up to 227 Piranha 5 wheeled armoured vehicles in six different configurations. The modern Piranha 5 vehicles will be produced in Romania under a strategic cooperation and transfer of technology project between GDELS and UMB.

Prime Minister Orban said: "The strategic cooperation between GDELS and the UMB is an excellent example on how we plan to modernise our Armed Forces with modern technology. It also represents a great opportunity for our Romanian economy to strengthen and sustain our national industry base in this important segment including export opportunities. I am proud to say, that 80% of the investment we take in this project will return to the benefit of our local economy.” 

Dr. Thomas Kauffmann, GDELS Vice President commented: ”We are deeply honoured and grateful that Prime Minister Orban, Minister of Economy Popescu and Minister of National Defence General Ciucă have attended our opening ceremony today and I would like to emphasise the strong and clear commitment of GDELS to become the strategic land systems supplier for the Romanian Army."

"The opening of the local production line at UMB marks a first major step in establishing our sustainable collaboration with trusted Romanian partners. The vast transfer of technology and the local production of the PIRANHA 5 also represents an enormous opportunity to the Romanian industry for the future,” Kauffmann added.

“Romania has proven once again that it has the capacity to produce in country high end military products. The UMB facility has been modernised and brought to international standards thanks to this contract and is now a modern production facility for a key project of our military procurement programs. The collaboration with GDELS will bring UMB in a leading position among our Romanian military industry”, said Mihai Rafiu, General Director UMB.

Romania, which joined NATO in 2004, plans to spend a total of €9.8-billion until 2026 to boost its defence capabilities, the National Defence Council (CSAT) said in August.

General Dynamics European Land Systems is a Europe based business unit of General Dynamics Corporation. Headquartered in Madrid, GDELS employs around 2,200 people at its sites in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Spain and Switzerland.

Its products range from wheeled armoured and tracked combat vehicles to amphibious bridges and ferry systems.

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