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Romania has a very long and proud tradition in developing and building weapons systems.
Tanks, armour, trucks, amphibious fighting vehicles, jet fighters, helicopters, warship, cannons, machineguns, air-to-air, air-to-ground and surface-to-air missiles, surface-to-surface missiles and pretty much all types of weapons ever developed have always been independently researched and produced in Romania.
Facilities in Bucharest, Craiova, Brasov, Bacau, Ploiesti, Cugir, Mizil and Constanta are some of the places where all these things are built.
In Mizil, Romania had a state-owned tank producing facility. TR-580 and TR-85 tanks, as well as TAB-71 and TAB-77 armoured personnel carriers and TABC-79 armoured scouting vehicles were produced there many years ago. Other than these, MLI-84 infantry fighting vehicles and B-33 Zimbru amphibious armoured vehicles have also been made at Mizil.
The high quality and very low cost Romanian military products were famous all over the world during the Cold War Era. Romania exported billions $ worths of weaponry to dousens of countries in all the continents.
However, at the end of the communism, the former export markets went into decline, while the national defense needs changed radically. Radars instead of tanks, aircraft instead of armour, and missiles instead of cannon warheads. The only solution was the privatization of the industries.
For some, it was a success story. For others, it was a total disaster, literally taking them off the market and making them disappear. All of them were sold for scrap-money, and there are famous cases in which certain weapons factories have been sold for 30 times less than they worth.
But in the weapons and ammunitions factory in Cugir, for example, the privatization was a good experience. Current employees bought 20% of the shares, and then a further 21% was sold to a consortium of foreign companies in the branch.
This is also the case of the facility in Mizil. A small town a few kilometers away of Ploiesti, Mizil has a factory that used to produce tanks. After the 1989 Revolution, the factory remained without customers, as Romania did not buy tanks anymore, while the huge export market simply disappeared into thin air, as those respective countries went into economical recession.
However, by the year 2000, Mizil had also been privatized in a similar fashion with Cugir, and the company started an upgrade program for the Romanian TR-85 tanks. The result, dubbed TR-85M1, is one of the most modern tanks in the world and it is remarcable that a factory that was an inch away of disappearing, had created such an advanced project. However the management and workers of Mizil were ambitious enough not to stop there. So, a previously top secret project was started a few years ago.
Everybody saw, at least in movies, the famous American heavy-terrain vehicle called Hummer. Nicknamed Humvee, this is a vehicle that can carry several troops thru rough terrain, while also being able to carry a certain ammount of load in the back, and a heavy machinegun on top.
Such vehicles are very welcome for any military, especially one that sends thousands of troops anywhere in the world, such as is the case of the US and Romanian Armed Forces. But the Humvee has it's limitations, too. Since it's not armoured, the people inside can be easily taken out by outside small/heavy arms fire, and especially by grenades or booby-trap bombs. Besides, the man handling the machinegun on top is particulary vulnerable, as he stands uncovered on the outside of the vehicle.
All these problems were solved, in the new highly capable Mowag Eagle vehicle. Produced and tested in Mizil, Mowag Vehicle looks similar with an American Hummer or one of its Israeli equivalents. But the similarities stop there.
Mowag Eagle has armoured coach work and windows, so the threat of small and heavy machinegun fire has been completely eliminated. Its terrain handling capabilities are similar to the ones of the Humvee, while the vehicle is strong enough to survive grenade attacks or anti-personnel mines that it might drive upon.
Mowag Eagle has been publicly tested and presented for the first time today, 22nd of january 2004. It is expected that it will enter the new acquisition programme of the Romanian Armed Forces, together with weapons such as the Tavos machinegun and more C-130 Hercules aircraft.
Hopefully successful for export as well, Mowag Eagle, together with GEC/Pfizer radars and other weapons would make Romania become the 5th largest weapons exporter in the world, a title which it held for decades, but lost since 1990.
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