Senate president: Romania can’t buy helicopters from both Bell and Airbus

Romania must be realistic about endowing its Army because it won’t be able to make both Viper attack helicopters with Bell and those of Airbus Helicopters, Senate president Calin Popescu Tariceanu said on Tuesday, March 20, during a visit to the helicopter production facilities at Ghimbav near Brasov. However, the general manager of local helicopter producer IAR Brasov said the two programs didn’t exclude each other as one was for an attack helicopter (Viper) and the other one was for a multi-purpose model (H215), local Mediafax reported. French group Airbus set up a helicopter production facility near Brasov, in partnership with local producer IAR Brasov, to build the Super Puma helicopter in Romania, provided that the Romanian army acquired several units. Meanwhile, Romania’s Defense Ministry has also been negotiating with US group Bell the purchase of Viper attack helicopters. The ministry wants some of these helicopters to be produced at Brasov, also in partnership with IAR. Romania has also been talking with US group Lockheed Martin to buy Black Hawk helicopters. Lockheed Martin announced that it would set up a regional center for equipping and maintenance Black Hawk helicopters in Bucharest, at the Romaero factory. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Calin Popescu Tariceanu on Facebook)