► WB GROUP enhances Romanian Industrial footprint through partnership with ROMAERO

WB GROUP, Poland’s largest privately owned defence technology group, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ROMAERO, one of Romania’s most established aeronautics and defence industrial companies, to pursue joint industrial cooperation on the delivery of unmanned aerial systems to the Romanian Ministry of National Defence.

The agreement was signed today at the Black Sea Defence and Aerospace (BSDA) exhibition in Bucharest, the most significant defence industry event in the Black Sea region. The cooperation framework focuses on WB GROUP’s GLADIUS reconnaissance and strike systems, which are fully integrated into the Polish Armed Forces and form the basis of WB GROUP’s offer to Romania.

Under the Memorandum of Understanding, WB GROUP and ROMAERO will cooperate on the manufacturing and assembly of WARMATE loitering munition systems in Romania. The industrial partnership will adapt ROMAERO’s facilities for the large-scale production of loitering munitions for the Romanian Armed Forces, while also providing surge production capacity for broader European markets.

“Romania is a strategic market for WBE and a country where we are committed to building lasting industrial relationships, not simply supplying equipment. Our cooperation with ROMAERO is a further step in that direction,” commented Piotr Wojciechowski, President of WB GROUP.

The Memorandum of Understanding is intended to support Romanian acquisitions financed in whole or in part through the EU’s Security Action for Europe instrument, under which Romania is one of the largest beneficiary countries. Poland has already announced multiple SAFE programmes involving WB GROUP’s loitering munitions, reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles, and reconnaissance-strike systems.

“The cooperation places Romanian engineering and manufacturing capabilities at the heart of the systems we will deliver, while ensuring that the value generated under SAFE-financed programmes is shared with Romanian industry. Signing this agreement here at BSDA, following the establishment of WB Romania, marks the next phase of our long-term presence in the country,” added Piotr Wojciechowski.

The agreement builds directly on WB GROUP’s earlier announcement of the establishment of WB Romania, the group’s dedicated local entity, and reflects a sustained programme of investment in Romanian industrial partnerships, technology transfer and in country capability.

ROMAERO brings more than seventy years of aeronautical manufacturing heritage at its Bucharest facilities, alongside aero-structures, maintenance and repair capabilities for both commercial and military aircraft, making it a natural Romanian industrial partner for the assembly and structural manufacture of advanced unmanned systems.

GLADIUS combines WARMATE family of loitering munitions, providing a strike capability at ranges over 100 kilometres, with WB GROUP’s reconnaissance unmanned aerial platforms, all controlled through the TOPAZ Integrated Combat Management System. TOPAZ allows GLADIUS to operate as a single networked capability alongside conventional artillery fires, including 155mm ammunition, rockets and missiles, giving artillery divisions a level of mission flexibility that fully integrates unmanned systems.