The Romanian defence ministry is to hold exclusive final negotiations with Alenia Aeronautica in a competition to replace its Antonov An-24/26 tactical transports, with its C-27J Spartan having been selected to meet the seven-aircraft requirement.
A contract worth €220 million ($290 million) should be signed before the end of this month, says the Italian manufacturer, with the Romanian air force's first aircraft expected to be ready for acceptance trials by December 2007. The C-27J was selected for the requirement after a competition with EADS Casa's C-295.
The air force says its current operational fleet of one An-24 and four An-26s must be retired because their service lives will expire by 2009 and the platforms are becoming increasingly expensive to operate and are incompatible with NATO operating requirements. Its new aircraft will be suitable for international operations through the integration of identification friend-or-foe and countermeasures equipment similar to that selected for fellow Spartan buyers Bulgaria and Italy. The service will use its new aircraft to augment its fleet of three larger Lockheed Martin C-130B/H tactical transports.
The Romanian air force lost its 11th upgraded Aerostar MiG-21 Lancer fighter to a fatal accident last month. The Lancer C air superiority fighter crashed 30min into a sortie from Romania's Campia Turzii airbase, killing its pilot. Aerostar and Israel's Elbit Systems upgraded 113 MiG-21s to the Lancer by 2003.
Source: Flight International
