MApN demands compensation of hundreds of millions of lei from the Elbit company for the undelivered drones/ Meeting attended by the ambassador of Israel

The Minister of Defense Radu Miruță met, on Friday, with the president of the Israeli arms company Elbit Systems, Bezhalel Machlis, to discuss the subject of the terms of delivery of the Watchkeeper X drones, which were supposed to enter the equipment of the Romanian army in June 2025. The Romanian side rejected the invocation of an event of force majeure and demands the payment of penalties of 265,000,000. The Israeli ambassador to Bucharest, Lior Ben Dor, also participated in the meeting.

Discussions focused on identifying concrete steps to address delays in the delivery schedule and contractual responsibilities for the Watchkeeper X tactical unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) program.

MApN: “Contractual obligations cannot be optional”

At the end of the discussions, the Ministry of National Defense sent a statement stating that Elbit Systems owes penalties of over 265,000,000 lei, the possibility of terminating the contract being invoked, already invoked by Minister Miruță at the beginning of this month.

“The Ministry of National Defense is considering all the options provided by the contractual framework, including the possibility of termination, depending on the company's ability to fulfill its obligations under the contract signed in 2023,” the MApN press release states.

MApN appreciates the presence of Elbit in Romania and the efforts made to achieve the objectives of the contract, but legal and contractual obligations cannot be optional.

press release of the Ministry of National Defense

• The framework agreement with the Israeli company Elbit for seven UAS Watchkeeper X systems is worth a total of approx. 1.891 billion lei, without VAT (about 380 million euros).
• The seven Watchkeeper X UAS Systems each involve a ground control station and three unmanned aircraft each. Thus, in total there are practically 21 Watchkeeper X drones that must enter the equipment of the Army.
• The agreement stipulated that initially part of the production would be done in Romania, and starting with the third contracted system, “the production of all electrical and mechanical systems related to it” would be carried out in the country.

Elbit invoked 'force majeure' three times

MApN presented a history of the contract with Elbit Systems for the supply of seven Watchkeeper X systems, six in land configuration and one in naval configuration.

The framework agreement was signed in December 2022, followed by a subsequent contract in June 2023, which stipulated that three systems would be delivered by June 19, 2025.

The first problems in the performance of the contract appeared after the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, when Elbit Systems asked to postpone the delivery deadline by six months, then by nine months.

“Since the supporting documents made available by ELBIT SYSTEMS LTD did not show that force majeure is required for 6-9 months, it was found that the event of force majeure acted within the subsequent contract No. 1 only for a period of 3 months. Thus, the delivery deadline originally foreseen – 19.06.2025, was delayed by 3 months, until the date of 19.09.2025”, states MApN.

Elbit Systems again invoked a force majeure event in June 2025 when Israel began a bombing campaign against Iran. This time, MApN accepted the 33-day delay requested by the Israeli company, making the delivery date October 22, 2025.

Even with the new conditions, the drones were not delivered on time, and Elbit Systems invoked a third force majeure event on March 4, 2026, this time a joint Israeli-American attack on Iran

“The force majeure event was not recognized by the buyer, as it occurred after the delivery deadline stipulated in the contract – 22.10.2025, and the seller cannot be exempted from contractual liability considering that the contractual obligations had to be performed before the occurrence of the invoked event”, claims MApN.

Under these conditions, the Ministry of Defense calculated that the Israeli company owes the Romanian state penalties of 265,552,469.42 lei.

Miruta threatens to terminate. The Elbit reaction

At the beginning of this month, Radu Miruță threatened to terminate the contract, if the manufacturer does not return to the delivery schedule.

“Until today, the penalties that this company has to pay to the Ministry of Defense are somewhere around 60 million euros and they are increasing every day. I am analyzing within the Ministry if we do not want to terminate this contract, we have this legal possibility, there are some devices that have technical characteristics that, if they are received a few years later, are no longer up to date. We have ordered some drones with certain characteristics to arrive in 2025. If they arrive much later, we may say that it is no longer of interest to receive them”, warned the minister on April 2.

The company's reaction came on April 6, which promised that the first drones could be delivered at the end of this month.

“Despite the challenges generated by the exceptional security situation in Israel, recognized by the company's customers around the world as a case of force majeure, the project received high priority,” Elbit Systems said in an emailed response to Reuters.

The company stated that the systems are ready to enter the final phase of acceptance tests in Romania towards the end of April, depending on the approval of the Romanian regulatory authorities.