Login
iscover
The Romanian government is set to acquire 54 M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams Main Battle Tanks and other military vehicles under a possible foreign military sale approved by the US State Department.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified the US Congress of the possible $2.53 billion sale of M1A2 Abrams and related equipment on 9 November.
The government of Romania has requested to buy 54 Abrams, 54 M1A1 structures, four M88A2 HERCULES combat recovery vehicles, four M1110 joint assault bridges, four M1150 assault breacher vehicles, four heavy assault scissor bridges, 54 M240C 7.62mm machine guns, and 10 AGT1500 gas turbine engines.
The M1A2 SEP version 3 (System Enhanced Package v3) main battle tank is the current production version of the Abrams tank, featuring an M256 120mm smoothbore cannon, 12.7mm machine gun, 7.62mm M240 machine gun, improved forward-looking infrared, and is manned by a crew of four. It features improvements in electrical power, vehicle health management systems, integrated counter-improvised explosive device protection, auxiliary power unit, embedded training, and an ammunition data link.
The sale would also include 5,940 120mm M1147 high explosive, multipurpose, tracer cartridges and 4,230 120mm M1002 target practice multipurpose, tracer cartridges.
Other sale equipment includes mine roller vehicles, forward repair systems, trailer-mounted generators, remote-operated weapons stations, M2A1 .50 calibre machine guns, communications equipment, service and training ammunition, spare and repair parts, tools, technical manuals and publications.
“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by helping to improve the security of a NATO ally which is an important force for political and economic stability in Europe,” according to the DSCA statement published on 9 November.
“The proposed sale will improve Romania’s capability to meet current and future threats by providing a credible force that is capable of deterring adversaries and participating in NATO operations. Romania will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces.
“The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.”
The proposed sale would require 22 US government and 52 US contractor representatives to travel to Romania for a duration of up to five years to support equipment fielding and training.
Principal contractors for the possible sale would include General Dynamics Land Systems, BAE Systems, Leonardo DRS, Honeywell Aerospace, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, L3Harris, American Apex Corporation, Allison Transmissions, Pearson Engineering, Amentum, CAE, Palomar, Boeing, Fibrotex, and US Ordnance.
