Romania prepares for WAR: Cash-strapped Bucharest invests in $1BN rocket launching system

The cash-strapped country’s new government has approved the purchase of a number of US-sourced weapons including American-made M142 HIMARS (high mobility artillery rocket system).

Countries in Eastern Europe have been acquiring military-grade weapons amid fears of armed conflict breaking out along the Russian border.

Romania and the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania meet, or are close to, the two percent goal to ensure they get Washington’s full support in the event of war. 

Romanian Defence Minister Mihai Fifor said the equipment would “improve Romania’s national and allied defence capability” and stressed that Romania’s commitment to the NATO target “for the next 10 years is strong”.

Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said: “We want those procurement programmes to also strengthen our defence industry based on offset arrangements where possible.”

The US State Department approved Romania’s application to acquire HIMARS and other support related-equipment totalling $1bn last September. 

Romania placed the order after Donald Trump criticised NATO members for failing to meet the two percent of GDP spending on their defence budgets. 

He complained it was unfair for the US taxpayer to be footing the bill for military defence spending for NATO members who were not contributing sufficient funds and warned those that did not cough up risked receiving less military support from Washington.

Mr Trump has since proposed a 30 percent increase in US military funding for Europe to deter Russia and US Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis said allies should follow suit when he met ministers at NATOm headquarters in Brussels last week.

Fifteen of the 28 countries, excluding the United States, now have a strategy to meet a NATO benchmark first agreed in 2014 in response to Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region, following 25 years of cuts to European defence budgets.

NATO data shows that Britain, Greece, Romania and the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania meet, or are close to, the 2 percent goal. France and Turkey are among those countries set to reach it soon.

Allies told the meeting that NATO goals needed to take into account countries such as Italy and Germany that are big contributors to NATO missions, such in Afghanistan.