Romania plans to purchase Hisar patrol ship at the price of a combat corvette

Romania intends to purchase an abnormally expensive patrol ship from Turkey with limited combat capabilities and without the support of its own shipbuilding companies.

Defense Romania reported this, citing its own sources in the country’s political circles.

Romania has officially announced its intention to purchase a patrol vessel and, according to journalists, the choice has already been made in favor of a Turkish ship of the Hisar class.

The patrol ship will be built in Turkish shipyards without the involvement of Romanian industry, which came as a surprise since the country has its own shipbuilding capabilities, particularly in the city of Galati. Partnership with a national manufacturer in such purchases is standard practice — for example, Ukrainian Ada-class corvettes were to be completed in Mykolaiv.

Political and defense industry sources have reported that the government plans to pay €350 million for the new vessel, which is a huge amount for ships of this type. Unlike full-fledged combat corvettes, its combat management system does not support the use of NSM anti-ship missiles already purchased by the country.

Accordingly, the combat equipment of the future Romanian patrol ship will be reduced to the standard armament of Hisar corvettes: a 76 mm bow artillery mount, remotely controlled machine gun mounts and, optionally, a 35 mm Aseksan Gökdeniz anti-aircraft gun and Hosar-O interceptors.

If changes are made to the ship’s design to retrofit it with the above-mentioned systems, Raytheon’s approval for technology transfer would be required, which is unlikely. Even under such conditions, the cost of the ship would skyrocket, and its construction would be delayed.

The same sources reported that the ship planned for purchase is the first in a series of ten vessels. Under unknown circumstances, Turkey decided to sell it after sea trials and offered it to Pakistan, which refused. Instead, the Pakistanis subsequently ordered the construction of patrol ships in Galati, Romania.

The publication notes that negotiations on their purchase were also held with Romania. The ships were unarmed but seaworthy and priced at €90 million. The integration of the Western Tacticos combat system and American NSM missiles would have cost another €100 million. In this state, the ship was planned to be completed in six months.

Military sources claim that a compromise solution had been reached to install container launchers with anti-ship missiles on board the patrol ship. They will not be integrated into the ship’s combat system, which negates the possibility of coordination, but will provide some anti-ship capability.

Acting President Ilie Bolojan confirmed that the purchase had already been included in the agenda of the Supreme Council of National Defense. According to him, he only approved the prepared decision to avoid interruptions in the defense programs initiated by the government.

The Romanian government must now submit a request for the purchase to parliament. It is possible that the new president and the new government will review the armament programs and the decision to purchase the vessel will be reconsidered.