Romania buys four mobile approach radars from Thales for 326.5 million lei

Contract signed with Thales

The Ministry of National Defence said its General Directorate for Armaments signed the contract on Tuesday, 27 October 2026, for four mobile radar systems for approach and landing guidance, abbreviated RDAAM. The deal is worth about 326.5 million lei excluding VAT. The ministry names THALES ROMANIA SRL as the company, while G4Media describes the contract as signed with an association of THALES ROMANIA SRL and THALES LAS FRANCE SAS. Minister Ștefan Radu Oprea posted about the signing on Facebook and described it as part of a continued modernization of the army.

What the radars are designed to do

The systems will identify and track aircraft and guide them during approach and landing, including in difficult weather and in a hostile electromagnetic environment. According to the ministry, they can serve military and civilian aircraft, by day and by night, and pass their data to national or NATO command and control systems. Because they are mobile, they can be set up at alternative locations, which the ministry says reduces dependence on fixed air base infrastructure. The technical description adds that the primary radars are STAR NG units working in the S-band with a range of up to 60 nautical miles. The same description says precision approach radars will support landings in low visibility, and that the RSM NG/IFF set combines NATO Mode 5 identification, Mode S air traffic monitoring and ADS-B tracking.

Interoperability and standards

The ministry says the radars will provide target data in real time to national and NATO command systems, in any weather and around the clock. The technical description states that the equipment follows the latest recommendations of EUROCONTROL and ICAO and is cyber-secured from the design phase. The ministry places the purchase within equipment programmes aimed at modernizing the Romanian Air Force and expanding its mission capability, including in an allied context. Thales specialists will work with local partners to install and integrate the systems.

Delivery timeline

Deliveries are staged and begin in 2028, and ProTV reports that all systems are due by 2030 across four Romanian Air Force locations. The milestones that the sources date are set out in the timeline below. Oprea's Facebook post gave the timing of the first system in his own words.

“The first system will enter the Romanian Air Force's inventory in 2028.”

Industrial partnership

The ministry presents the contract as a marker of the industrial side of Romanian-French defence cooperation. It says THALES ROMANIA SRL offers Romanian specialists chances to build skills and to bring know-how and technology into the country.

“The contract highlights the industrial dimension of Romanian-French defence cooperation.”

Oprea argued that defence spending should also feed industrial activity inside Romania, in well-paid jobs and in technologies and skills that stay there. He said the modernization of the army and the growth of the national defence industry should reinforce each other, which he tied to long-term security and strategic autonomy.

“The money allocated for equipment must also be reflected in industrial activity in Romania.”