Romania pledges to raise defence spending
The Romanian Armed Forces are set to benefit from higher defence spending. (Photo: Romanian Armed Forces)
Another European NATO member state aims to increase its defence budget, with Romania looking to spend 2.5% of GDP from 2023.
Romania is to increase its defence budget to 2.5% of GDP from 2023 in reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Klaus Iohannis announced on 11 March during a visit by US Vice President Kamala Harris.
Even before the Russia-Ukraine crisis prompted many European countries to reassess their military spending priorities, Romania was one of the ten NATO member states to commit to spending at least 2% of GDP on defence.
Its 2022 budget of RON25.9 billion ($6.14 billion) is equivalent to 2.04% of GDP and marked a 14% year-on-year increase.
Additional investment in the defence budget may prompt Romania to resurrect the stalled Agilis armoured vehicle procurement programme with Rheinmetall.
Shephard Defence Insight notes that Romania is also engaged in acquiring four Gowind new-build multirole corvettes for €1.6 billion, designed by Naval Group but constructed locally. However, this programme has also stalled.
Other major ongoing defence investment programmes in Romania include the acquisition of 32 ex-Royal Norwegian Air Force F-16 jets, approved by the Romanian parliament in December 2021 for €454 million ($515 million).
More from Defence Notes
-
![Why the NORAD inventory might be the US and Canada’s Achilles’ heel]()
Why the NORAD inventory might be the US and Canada’s Achilles’ heel
Both the US and Canada operate Cold War-era capabilities which cannot defeat today’s and tomorrow’s threats.
-
![Companies’ results boom as countries dig deep to buy missiles and air defence systems]()
Companies’ results boom as countries dig deep to buy missiles and air defence systems
Air defence systems are continuing to appear top of countries’ shopping lists but broadly across different capabilities it is a sellers’ market, as demonstrated by backlogs and double-digit percentage point growth.
-
![Forging strong partnerships for warfighting communications in space (Studio)]()
Forging strong partnerships for warfighting communications in space (Studio)
Mike Moran, Director of US Government Business at Amazon Project Kuiper Government Solutions, highlighted the evolution of space as a critical warfighting domain at the Defence in Space Conference (DISC) 2025, held this week in London.
