Alenia Aeronautica, a subsidiary of Italian group Finmeccanica, is about to sign a contract with the Romanian Defense Ministry for the sale of seven C-27J military transport planes. According to a Alenia press release quoted by Italian media, the company was invited by the Ministry to negotiate the contract evaluated at some 220 million euro.
The talks come in the wake of an official visit Italian Defense minister Arturo Parisi paid to Romania on November 22-23.
The Romanian Air Force Command had announced its intention to replace the transportation planes fleet now formed mostly of AN-24/26 planes, which did not comply with NATO standards due to their limitations and lack of spare parts.
The Italian C-27J plans are also used by other new NATO member states including Bulgaria and Lithuania while the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia are about to conclude their own procurement contracts.
