This Wednesday, US giant Lockheed Martin, one of the world's top technology suppliers, signed a contract with Romaero Bucharest of at least 30 million dollars for the modernisation of four Hercules C-130 aircraft owned by the Romanian Air Force.
The need to upgrade Romanian army equipment to meet NATO standards and the potential of orders worth several hundreds of million dollars in coming years recently aroused the interest of major military suppliers, such as BAE Systems (Great Britain), the European EADS concern, Finmecanica (Italy) and Lockheed Martin (US).
The deal with Romaero is a starting point for the American company on the Romanian market. They have been in talks with several companies and are drawing up an integrated strategy aimed at the domestic market.
"Other units of Lockheed Martin have already done business here, but for us (Lockheed Martin Aircraft & Logistic) the contract with Romaero is the first to be signed here. In business, it's the same as in life: you first go on a date and then become engaged. We are now drawing up an integrated strategy at the group level," Marc Rose, a manager with Lockheed Martin Aircraft & Logistic Center, which forms part of the US giant, told Ziarul Financiar.
Rose said he had held discussions with officials from the joint venture created by General Electric and Turbomecanica Bucharest and that other domestic capacities for potential subcontracting would be analysed.
The contract signed by Lockheed Martin, which operates deals of 32 billion dollars per year, is not of high value by its standards, but will have a significant impact on Romaero and on the domestic defence industry.
The contract will be carried out over a three-year period but allows for prolonged collaboration to carry out the modernisation and maintenance of other C-130 aircraft from the air bases of Western Europe. This is a first step for Romaero in terms of accreditation as a regional maintenance centre for Hercules aircraft.
Romaero will also invest 5 million dollars to achieve technological compatibility with Lockheed Martin. According to Romaero general manager Viorel Manole, Romaero invested 1 million dollars in 2003 and investment for this year will be of a similar magnitude.
For 2004, Romaero expects to double its turnover to 5.6 million dollars and foresees a similar pace of growth for 2005. adrian.mirsanu@zf.ro
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