Romania Terminates Gowind 2500 Corvette Procurement
According to the reports by the Defense Romania news outlet, the government in Bukarest has withdrawn from the procurement of the Gowind 2500 Corvette. According to Defense Romania’s industry sources the Ministry of National Defense has directed the cancellation of the essential endowment program for the “Multifunctional Corvette” which has been proposed in February, 2018.
In 2019, the French company Naval Group won the tender for delivering 4 multifunctional corvettes worth $1.85 billion, including the modernization of the combat systems of the frigates Queen Maria and King Ferdinand. By that time, the Naval Group was delivering its Gowind 2500 corvettes to Egypt, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates. It was the result of an annulment of a previous agreement made with the Dutch company Damen signed in 2016 for the delivery of Sigma 10514 vessels. In the eyes of a new Romanian government formed in 2017, the agreement signed with Damen was deemed as “illegal”.
Romanian experts blame the decision to terminate the corvette procurement on the financial situation of Romania’s ministry of defense. Supposedly the differences in the views on financing the corvette procurement program were so drastic that the Naval Group did not manage to seal the final deal in time, although the Romanian Ministry of Defense reportedly shifted the deadline several times.
After the termination of the Gowind 2500 procurement the Romanian Navy is left with no clear alternative. It is doubtful that the government in Bukarest will conduct a new series of talks with Naval Group nor Damen, which recently pulled out from managing the shipyard in Mangalia. On the eve of other procurement projects, including the selection of new howitzers, the Romanian navy may have to wait further modernization until funding is available.