Romania cancels Gowind corvette buy, but needs swift new solution for Black Sea security
Egypt, Malaysia, the UAE and Argentina have all ordered variants of the Gowind design for their naval forces. (Photo: Naval Group)
The Romanian Ministry of National Defence (MoND) has confirmed that plans to acquire four Gowind 2500 corvettes from French shipbuilder Naval Group have been cancelled.
A spokesperson from the MoND told Shephard that it 'regrets' that the procurement programme for a multirole corvette acquisition 'could not be completed'.
The spokesperson explained that despite 'all efforts' to order the four ships domestic legislation 'did not allow MoND to do more'.
The joint venture company between Naval Group and Romania's Santierul Naval Constanta shipyard did not sign an acquisition contract, but then finances could not be secured to sign a contract with the second-ranked tender either. Dutch shipbuilder Damen Schelde and Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri also bid for the programme.
The deal, signed in 2019, for the
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