The Romanian Land Forces operate a series of Grad-type missile launchers modernized after the Soviet ones, but they do not offer the range or precision of modern systems. A Romanian company has proposed to the Army a modernization package that comes with guided missiles, capable of covering much larger ranges and that will become complementary to the American HIMARS systems, bought and used by the Army.
According to HotNews sources in the Ministry of Defense, the Army plans to upgrade at least part of its current reactive artillery systems in the coming years. Depending on the budget, the modernization plan could extend over a longer period and cover the entire arsenal of equipment.
At the BSDA military exhibition, one of the products aimed directly at this capability and which was proposed to the Romanian Army was exhibited.
LAROM is the name of the rocket launchers developed in the early 2000s, based on the APRA-40 launcher, a local variant of the Soviet BM-21 GRAD system. The LAROM project was developed by Aerostar and Elbit companies.
There are 54 such systems in the equipment of the Land Forces. They can launch 122 mm rockets (20 per launcher) with a range of 20 km or larger 160 mm rockets with a range of 45 km. But in both cases the ammunition is unguided, meaning it is not as accurate as other modern missiles currently in use.
Now, at BSDA, the Romanian company Aerostar, in partnership with the Israelis from Elbit, exhibited on the Romaero platform a Romanian LAROM system, but which can use more modern guided missiles.
Guided missile upgrade for LAROM
“It is a modernization of the LAROM system. It is an intermodular solution. On this launcher we can launch unguided missiles, as well as guided ones. The novelty is that we can launch Accular guided missiles up to 40 kilometers, 122 mm caliber missiles, and the Extra missile, a guided one, up to 150 kilometers. It has an accuracy of less than 10 meters. Both types of missiles are guided, this is the novelty”, he explained to HotNews Claudiu Acostoae, director at Aerostar.
At Romaero, within BSDA, the company exhibited a truck part of a LAROM system that had two launchers mounted on the back that can be operated simultaneously from the same platform. One launcher has 18 tubes for 122 mm Accular rockets and the other has four tubes for 306 mm Extra rockets.
The Aerostar representative claims that this upgrade for the Army can be done on current LAROM systems and launchers and that the new variant has already been tested by Elbit in another country that has already operationalized the system.
In addition, according to the company representative, the system uses a Mobile Fire Control System (MFCS) from Elbit. “The rocket launch system is similar to the LAROM software,” says the Aerostar representative.
Complementary launchers for the HIMARS system
The LAROM systems update program is not one purchased by MApN, but is only now in its first phase.
“Now we are presenting it to the Army. The first reaction was that they liked it. We know that they need a complementary system for HIMARS. It is cheaper and easier to do, because it means modifying the existing equipment. It can be a solution if you want to shoot at 120 km, but you don't want to use a missile that can reach 300 km. You use the 120 km one, that's why it is complementary to the HIMARS system”, explains Claudiu Acostoae.
In 2019, Romania bought from the United States, from the Lockheed Martin company, three artillery systems based on HIMARS long-range surface-to-surface missiles for about 1.5 billion dollars. The first system was commissioned in 2021, and the last one was operationalized in 2024.
Each system has 18 launchers, and Romania's contract also provided for the purchase of three different types of guided missiles.
The M30A1 and M31A1 missiles are guided and have a range of over 90km and six per vehicle/launcher.
The largest ATACMS missiles fit one per launcher and are the ones that can hit land targets up to 300 km away.
