The Romanian Ministry of Defense announced that it has canceled an auction for warships won by the French company “Naval Group”, AFP reported, quoted by BTA.
The French defense industry company won the tender in 2019 to build four Gowind corvettes for 1.2 billion euros and repair two others in partnership with the Romanian company Constanta Shipyard.
However, the contract was not signed, despite Romania’s desire to strengthen the protection of its territorial waters due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Romanian media reported that the contract was not signed due to attempts to change the originally agreed price. There are doubts that Romanian politicians tried in the past to block Naval Group’s bid and award the contract to the Dutch Damen for “political reasons”.
The biggest blow to “Naval Group” was inflicted by Australia in 2019, which canceled a contract for the construction of 12 submarines worth 35 billion dollars.
Romania increased its defense spending to 2.5 percent of GDP this year from 2 percent in 2022.
The country has stepped up NATO missions, with several thousand troops on its soil, including a battle group led by France.
Romania plans to modernize its army and buy combat equipment such as American Abrams tanks, submarines and anti-mine ships. That year, it acquired 18 Bayraktar TB2 combat drones under a $321 million contract with the Turkish company Baykar.
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