JERUSALEM — Elbit Systems has signed 4 contracts with the Romanian military to upgrade helicopters, deliver electronic warfare technologies, provide systems to help search and rescue operations, and provide avionics suites for instruction aircraft.

Tuesday’s announcement comes just after the Israeli firm inked two other bargains with European costumers in early March, a single of which was to provide Romania with unmanned turrets, remote weapon stations and mortar systems.

“These contracts extend Elbit Systems’ track record delivering productive projects to the Romanian Armed Forces, like comply with-on contracts awarded just after Elbit Systems very first was contracted to upgrade helicopters and aircraft,” Ran Kril, executive vice president of international marketing and advertising and business enterprise improvement for Elbit, mentioned in a statement.

The corporation declined to comment on the contract values, and the Romania’s Defence Ministry did not respond to an inquiry from Defense News.

The conflict in Ukraine has been a driving element for Romania’s procurement efforts, according to current reports.

NATO deployed airborne warning and handle program aircraft to Romania in January, and in February a Russian missile fired at Ukraine crossed more than into Moldova, Romania’s neighbor, and came inside 22 miles of the border of Romania.

Romania’s Defence Ministry mentioned that “the Romanian authorities have applied all regular procedures because the moment the target was detected till the total clarification of this predicament. Additionally, at ten:38 a.m., two Romanian Air Forces’ MiG-21 LanceR Aircraft of the NATO-led Air Policing Service, which had been executing a flight exercising at that moment, had been redirected to the Northern location of Romania in order to enhance the reaction alternatives.”

Equipping the IAR 300

A single contract is for Elbit’s Spectro XR electro-optical program, which will equip Romania’s IAR 330 Puma helicopters made use of for maritime operations. The contract perform will take spot more than the coming year, the corporation mentioned, and follows a “successful upgrade of the Romanian Navy’s IAR helicopters.”

Spectro XR can function in the daytime and at evening, and its sensors deliver imaging capabilities. The corporation mentioned it also offers “continuous target scanning capabilities for enhanced situational awareness.”

The Spectro program will equip some Romanian helicopters below a deal with Elbit Systems. (Courtesy of Elbit Systems)

The IAR 330 is the principal helicopter made use of by the Romanian Naval, Air and Land forces the Naval Force utilizes 3. The nation has made use of the aircraft in many naval drills, like the NATO-led Steadfast Defender exercising in 2021. The alliance reported in 2018 that the Romanian naval version of the IAR 330 was made use of with the Romanian frigate Regele Ferdinand for joint maneuvers as component of the NATO Maritime Group two in the Black Sea.

Electronic warfare

An additional contract with Elbit is for the provide of a “comprehensive electronic warfare (EW) suite like Radar Warning Receiver (RWR), Laser Warning Method (LWS), Infrared Missile Warning Method (IR MWS) and Counter Measure Dispensing Method (CMDS),” according to the corporation.

Elbit explained that the “suites will be supplied to a domestic supplier for the installation and integration onboard six Puma helicopters with an selection for an further six in the future.”

This contract is a comply with-on order of EW suites that had been previously installed. The contract will take spot more than 3 years.

Search and rescue

A single of the other bargains will see Elbit provide the Brightnite program to Romanian helicopter specialist IAR Brasov for the search and rescue model of the Puma helicopters. The Israeli corporation will execute this perform more than two years for the Romanian Air Force.

Brightnite is a program that can equip aircraft to help nighttime missions and other degraded visual environments, like in the course of blizzards, Elbit mentioned, adding that it “transmits higher-resolution video to the Helmet-Mounted Show (HMD), enabling pilots to fly in a head-up, eyes-out position.”

Beneath this identical contract, Elbit will also deliver further Spectro electro-optical systems, as nicely as technologies such as clever displays, digital maps and reconnaissance systems.

Trainers

The fourth contract will see Elbit provide avionic suites, monitors, overhead displays, navigation systems and weapons activation systems for the Romanian defense corporation Avione Craiova as component of an upgrade to the Air Force’s IAR 99 fighter trainer aircraft.

In 2019, Maj. Gen. Viorel Pană, chief of the Romanian Air Force Employees, described the IAR 99 aircraft upgrades and the IAR 330s as essential for the nation.

The upgrade is to help an “effective transition of Romanian Air Force pilots to fighter aircraft, like the Romanian Air Force’s F-16s,” Elbit mentioned. The perform will take spot more than a period of 4 years.

Romania has increasingly sought to bolster its military capabilities. In 2017, the nation decided to locally make Piranha armored autos, and it became the very first European nation to buy the American-produced Higher Mobility Artillery Rocket Method in 2018.

NATO members have supported improvements at Romania’s Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base to meet the alliance’s requirements for airfields, according to a January 2023 report by the Western organization, of which Romania is a member.

Seth J. Frantzman is the Israel correspondent for Defense News. He has covered conflict in the Mideast because 2010 for various publications. He has expertise covering the international coalition against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, and he is a co-founder and executive director of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Evaluation.