Romania’s Defense Ministry has issued a EUR 8.5 million invoice to US defense contractor General Dynamics, representing penalties for delays in delivering the Piranha V armored vehicles for the Romanian Army.

“The Weapons Department has started the procedure for issuing the invoice for penalties given the delays in delivering the products. Almost eight months have passed because we should have had the first 36 units delivered at the beginning of February,” defense minister Gabriel Les told Mediafax.

The Defense Ministry has also concluded that the armored vehicles didn’t meet the minimum required specifications, and refused them

Romania’s former defense minister Mihai Fifor signed the contract with US group General Dynamics for the delivery of 227 Piranha V armored vehicles, in January 2018. The first 36 such vehicles should have been delivered by the end of 2018, Fifor said at that time. Moreover, 197 of the 227 transporters should have been assembled in Romania, at the Bucharest Mechanical Plant – UMB. The total value of the contract is EUR 895 million.

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