Romania picks Turkish armored vehicles in $940 million deal

WARSAW, Poland — Romania has selected the Turkish Cobra II four-wheel-drive armored vehicle for the country’s land forces, ordering a total of 1,059 units.

Under the plan, the first 278 vehicles will be made in Turkey by manufacturer Otokar, and the remainder at a plant operated in Romania by local companies.

The planned sale is estimated to be worth around RON 4.263 billion ($940 million), Otokar said in a statement.

Romania’s Ministry of National Defence has tasked state-run defense company Romtehnica with carrying out the procurement.

The latest development comes as Bucharest is advancing a number of major procurements for the nation’s land forces. These include the planned acquisitions of new tracked infantry fighting vehicles, tanks and wheeled self-propelled howitzers. Last June, Romania chose the K9 Thunder 155 mm tracked self-propelled howitzer for the country’s military, purchasing 54 howitzers from South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace.

Alexandru Georgescu, a Bucharest-based security and defense analyst, told Defense News that, following long-standing public criticism, the Romanian ministry attaches great importance to foreign suppliers’ offers of cooperation with local defense plants.

Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine is encouraging Bucharest to strengthen “the undersized and overall neglected Romanian defense industry,” Georgescu said.

The Cobra II has a gross weight of up to 14.5 tons (31,967 lbs) and is powered by a turbo-charged diesel engine fitted with a 360 hp capacity. The vehicle can carry a total of 11 persons, including a driver and a commander, according to data from the Turkish manufacturer.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——罗马尼亚已选择土耳其的 Cobra II 四轮驱动装甲车作为其陆军装备，共订购了 1059 辆。

根据该计划，首批 278 辆汽车将由土耳其制造商 Otokar 生产，其余车辆将在罗马尼亚当地公司运营的工厂生产。

Otokar在一份声明中表示，此次计划中的出售预计价值约为42.63亿罗马尼亚列伊（9.4亿美元）。

罗马尼亚国防部已委托国营国防公司Romtehnica负责此次采购工作。

最新进展正值布加勒斯特推进一系列重大陆军装备采购之际。这些采购包括计划采购新型履带式步兵战车、坦克和轮式自行榴弹炮。去年6月，罗马尼亚选择了K9“雷霆”155毫米履带式自行榴弹炮，并从韩国韩华航空航天公司采购了54门该型榴弹炮。

布加勒斯特安全与国防分析师亚历山德鲁·乔治斯库告诉《防务新闻》，在长期受到公众批评之后，罗马尼亚国防部非常重视外国供应商与当地国防工厂合作的提议。

乔治斯库表示，俄罗斯对乌克兰的持续战争促使布加勒斯特加强“规模不足且总体上被忽视的罗马尼亚国防工业”。

Cobra II 的总重量可达 14.5 吨（31,967 磅），搭载一台 360 马力的涡轮增压柴油发动机。根据土耳其制造商提供的数据，该车可搭载 11 人，包括一名驾驶员和一名指挥官。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。