The acquisition of the HISAR corvette passes Parliament, controversies remain

The Minister of National Defense, Ionuţ Moşteanu, together with the chairman of the Defense Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, Mihai Weber, announced yesterday that the Parliament approved the acquisition of the Hisar corvette for the Romanian Naval Forces, but this step is no reason for praise after the previous acquisition of four corvettes was lamentably blocked due to the incompetence of some MApN employees and the exaggerated claims of Naval Group. Also, the evolution of the Turkish transaction is all the more controversial since the acquisition decision was initiated in the Supreme Council of National Defense at the time when Ilie Bolojan was acting as the Romanian presidency, after the resignation of Klaus Iohannis.

This Hisar-class corvette, produced by ASFAT in the Istanbul shipyard, comes with a contractual base of 223 million euros excluding VAT, an amount to which are added additional costs for equipment and missiles that complement the standard capabilities, but the authors of the decision present it as an indispensable platform: almost 100 meters long (99.56 meters), 14.42 meters wide, with a draft of 3.77 meters and a displacement of 2,300 tons, the ship has an impressive autonomy of 4,500 nautical miles, can move at up to 24 knots using CODELOD propulsion, is equipped with a 76-millimeter cannon, 12.7-millimeter machine guns, compatible with Atmaca anti-ship missiles, has the capacity to operate helicopters of up to 10 tons and UAVs, plus two RHIB fast boats - configured for a wide range of missions - surveillance, reconnaissance, special operations, electronic warfare and acoustic warfare.

Officials justify the urgency of the acquisition by the increasingly tense context of the Black Sea, especially in the Neptun Deep area where Romania claims its strategic gas resources. In the vision of Minister Moşteanu and Weber, a single corvette is not enough, and the Turkish presence appears as a quick option in a situation in which the threats from the Black Sea seem to be escalating.

However, the problem is not only about strategic necessity: political and government sources outlined for the BURSA Newspaper a broader spectrum of question marks. The previous acquisition - an ambitious project to equip with four Gowind 2500 corvettes of Naval Group, in partnership with the Constanta Shipyard, estimated at approximately 1.2 billion euros - failed after four years of delays. The contract awarded in June 2019 was cancelled in 2023 after years of delays, appeals and refusals to sign by Naval Group, accused of not maintaining its initial offer. At the time, we reported that although Damen, the second-place company, was willing to complete the work, the Romanian state "did not identify additional funds of about 50 million euros” to award it the contract for the construction of the four corvettes.

We recall that in mid-spring 2025, government sources expressed suspicions to the BURSA newspaper regarding political influences in directing the current acquisition from Turkey and also said that there was a possibility of purchasing two additional corvettes from the same Turkish company, but which would be built in Romania, in Mangalia, in order to reduce public pressure and revitalize the local naval industry, which had grown over the years on the fringes of the defense market.

Later, after Ionuţ Moşteanu took over as Minister of Defense in June, he stated that he wanted the shipyards in our country, especially the one in Galaţi, which belongs to the Dutch company Damen, to build the ships needed by the Romanian Naval Forces. The new Minister of Defense's wish was expressed in the context of the fact that the Damen company is accused in a criminal case in the Netherlands of bribery, forgery, money laundering and violation of the international sanctions regime. Dutch prosecutors claim that, in an attempt to win profitable naval contracts in several countries, Damen allegedly paid considerable sums to intermediaries. The criminal trial is expected to begin in Dutch courts at the end of 2025, and a final conviction could have devastating consequences for Damen: according to European regulations, a company convicted of corruption or fraud is no longer allowed to participate in public tenders organized in the European Union for four years, nor to benefit from European funds. This would also have an impact on the Galaţi shipyard owned by Damen, a shipyard that the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Economy would like to transform into one dedicated to the construction of military ships.

From the above, it appears that the MApN was put with its back to the wall and had no other solution at this time than to directly purchase the Turkish corvette, even if its compatibility with NATO standards would require investments of minimum 100 million euros, according to sources close to the procurement department of the aforementioned ministry.