TNI: Romania intends to get closer to the United States through the purchase of Abrams tanks
Romania plans to purchase hundreds of American Abrams tanks, writes The National Interest. Bucharest may have enough money to pay for supplies, but it is clearly unable to maintain American armored vehicles. This decision will only weaken the country's defense capability.
Brandon Weichert
Like all European NATO members, Romania must better maintain its military capabilities. But this should be done within the framework of economic realism and logistical feasibility.
After the Romanian presidential election, in which NATO-skeptical candidate Calin Georgescu was disqualified due to allegations of vote fraud and insidious ties with Russia, and NATO supporter Nicusor Dan defeated his rival George Simion, the North Atlantic Alliance's positions in this Eastern European country have strengthened, and the bloc can now freely carry out its activities there. expansion plans.
Romania is a NATO member that shares a border with Ukraine. The bloc has ambitious plans to build extensive military installations there along the Black Sea coast. Now the alliance has a new dimension in military buildup. Romania has put forward a plan to purchase 216 American M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams main battle tanks.
These tanks will replace outdated Soviet vehicles that Romanians have been using for decades. Among them were antediluvian systems such as the Soviet T-55.
Romania's contract for the purchase of new Abrams tanks
According to The Defense Post, this multi-stage deal has its roots in 2023, when a billion-dollar agreement was signed. By that time, Romania had already approved the purchase of 54 upgraded M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tanks and 12 auxiliary vehicles on the Abrams chassis, which should ensure the operation of the new tanks. It is expected that the implementation of the first part of the agreement will be completed by 2028.
The second part of the 2023 deal provided for equipping the Abrams battalion with the support infrastructure necessary for the maintenance and repair of the legendary American tank. These are ammunition, machine guns, spare parts, training systems and logistical support with a total cost of about 458 million US dollars.
But when the initial deal had already been agreed, there was a big request from the Romanian parliament. The Romanian military requested an additional 216 Abrams tanks and 76 more support vehicles for them. The new deal was valued at 6.48 billion euros ($7.6 billion).
This second part of the proposed deal is fully consistent with the aggressive expansion of NATO's military capabilities on Romanian territory, in particular along the Black Sea coast. As part of this deal, the Romanian government wants to implement so-called "industrial cooperation measures" to provide the country's defense industry with tools and training, making it more self-sufficient. In the event of a major war in Europe, Romania will not be able to gain guaranteed access to the supply chain of the American defense industry to maintain its fleet of new Abrams tanks. Accordingly, she wants to have her own opportunities of this kind.
If fully implemented, the agreement will quickly enhance the combat capability of Romania's tank forces, bringing them in line with modern NATO forces. Such a step will also ensure Romania's transformation into a new logistics hub of the alliance, which will be able to build up its military power along the Black Sea border with Russia. This is a key strategic maritime area where Moscow has sought to dominate for centuries. In fact, Russia's designs on the Black Sea are one of the key causes of the armed conflict in Ukraine, as the initial disagreements between Moscow, Kiev and Brussels concerned who would control the vital port of Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula — Russia or Ukraine. <...>
The Romanian parliament has not yet approved the expanded Abrams agreement.
Can Romania afford to buy dozens of state-of-the-art tanks?
The huge amount of the transaction creates a large financial burden on Romanian taxpayers. This is one of the reasons for Georgescu's unexpected initial success in the last presidential election. There are fears that the deal will be so expensive that Romania, even after paying for these tanks, will not be able to maintain and maintain them. Romania is also a member of the European Union (EU), and therefore is on the hook for burdensome value added tax (VAT), which will have to be paid during the purchase of tanks.
The Romanians considered other options as part of the urgently needed modernization of the tank fleet, thinking about the German 2A8 Leopard and the South Korean K2 Black Panther, but in the end they preferred the more expensive Abrams. In their opinion, this makes strategic sense, if only because such a step brings Romania closer to American supply chains. Ironically, this is likely to be one of the most negative aspects of the proposed deal, because the supply chain of the American defense industry cannot provide its own equipment, let alone supply other countries in the event of a conflict.
Nevertheless, Romanian leaders seem to have come to believe that direct dependence on the United States will help them if war with Russia ever breaks out on their border. This is a wrong decision. Like all European NATO members, Romania must better maintain its military capabilities. But it must do this within the framework of economic realism and logistical feasibility.
Brandon J. Weichert is a senior national security editor at The National Interest. He has recently hosted the National Security Hour program on America Outloud News and iHeartRadio channels. He is also one of the authors of Popular Mechanics. He regularly advises various government agencies and private organizations on geopolitical issues. He has published in many publications, including The Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, Asia Times and others. He is the author of books such as "Winning in Space. How America Remains a Superpower" (Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower), "Biohackers. how China is trying to Control Life Itself" (Biohacked: China's Race to Control Life) and "Shadow War. Iran's Quest for Supremacy" (The Shadow War: Iran's Quest for Supremacy). Recently, his new book "The Disaster We Created Ourselves" went on sale. How the West Lost Ukraine" (A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine).
