Trials Qualify Elbit Systems’ UT30MK2
General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) achieved an important milestone in the Romanian Army PIRANHA 5 programme on 28 March, conducting a live fire test of the vehicle in the presence of the Romanian procurement authority at Camp Rena, Norway. A fully-equipped PIRANHA 5 performed a series of static and dynamic shooting tests with its 30 mm weapon system, exceeding the customer’s requirements and qualifying the Elbit Systems UT30MK2 system for the 8×8 wheeled armoured vehicle for Romania’s programme.
In January 2018, as part of the Romanian Army’s plan to modernise its legacy wheeled armoured vehicle fleet, GDELS signed a contract with the Romanian armed forces to deliver up to 227 PIRANHA 5s in six different configurations. The modern vehicles will be produced in Romania under a strategic cooperation and transfer of technology project between GDELS-Mowag and the Romanian company Uzina Mecanică București (UMB).
Over the last year, GDELS and UMB have completed the first construction phase of the renovation of the UMB facilities. In addition, UMB Romanian employees have been trained in Switzerland and been qualified by GDELS-Mowag, with the result that the UMB facility and employees are now ready for serial production to begin in Romania.
“The Romanian Army is one of the most important PIRANHA users in Europe and has been a GDELS customer since 2006, with fielded variants of PIRANHA vehicles deployed in various missions in-country and abroad. Our collaboration with UMB will create a sustainable benefit to the Romanian economy and we are proud to support UMB in production and in proving our efficiency and reliability to Romanian Army,” stated GDELS-Mowag Managing Director, Oliver Dürr. “In support of such an important customer and programme, we are pleased to achieve two important milestones, with the successful shooting trials and also with the readiness of our partner UMB for local series production.”