Romania plans cooperation with Ukraine in drone production under EU financial program

Romania is considering the possibility of jointly producing drones with Ukraine as part of a new European Union defense program, a government source told Reuters. The project is planned to be implemented with funding from the SAFE initiative, which provides for the rearmament of EU member states.

According to the source, Ukrainian drone technologies are considered proven in large-scale combat conditions, which makes them promising for joint production. At the same time, Bucharest admits that creating a multi-level air defense system will take at least seven years.

Romania shares a land border with Ukraine of about 650 km. Since the beginning of Russian attacks on Ukrainian Danube ports, drone debris has fallen on Romanian territory more than 20 times. The country's government emphasizes the need to strengthen protection, but recognizes that the costs of countering drones are extremely high and can only be covered at the NATO level.

As part of the SAFE program, Romania will receive 16.6 billion euros, which, according to Prime Minister Ilie Bologian, will allow it to spend about 1% of GDP on defense procurement every year for five years.

The country's air defense system currently includes F-16 fighters, Patriot systems, HIMARS rocket systems, South Korean Chiron missiles, and German Gepard anti-aircraft systems. The latter two options are considered the most cost-effective for combating drones, but deploying them along the entire border would be prohibitively expensive.

By the way, Poland is showing high interest in the products of "Ukrainian Armor" and is considering the possibility of strengthening its own army with modern Ukrainian systems.