A POSSIBLE CONTRACT FOR THE SPARE PARTS NEEDED BY PATRIOT MISSILES All time high for "Aerostar" stock, after the "Raytheon" quote request

Shares of "Aerostar" Bacău (ARS) yesterday rose 6.5%, to 5.24 lei/share, taking the company's valuation to an all time high - 797.93 million lei, after American company Raytheon announced that it has requested a quote from ARS, to get more information about the parts that might be manufactured in Bacău for the Patriot radar, which is part of the Patriot missile system.

ARS shares have been on an upward trend lately, rising 28.1% in the last six months, and 43.4%, in the last year, according to data from the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE).

Aurel Cazacu, owner of "Criabo Defense&Security", commented: "The announcement by Raytheon is a very good thing for Aerostar and other domestic companies in the sector. The American partners, even if they don't have the obligation to conduct an offset, (mandatory compensation required by foreign governments in exchange for the acquisition of weapons and related services), are trying to cooperate with the Romanian industry.

These missiles are complex military equipments, which need maintenance. The best plant in Romania that can do that, is Aerostar.

Once these missiles are delivered, they will enter the military system and cooperation on the logistics and maintenance side is needed, they will need to be functional 24/7. The notion of failure is out of the question, because this is a matter of Romanian security, as well as security on NATO's eastern flank".

In his opinion, we can expect, in the coming period, the concretization of a contract with Aerostar, as well as business for other Romanian companies, related to other types of equipment.

Raytheon is currently negotiating for the signing of new memorandums with several Romanian companies.

Tom Laliberty, vice-president of integrated anti-air and missile defense of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, said: "This quote request is an opportunity for Aerostar to supply components both for the Patriot systems sold to Romania, as well as for the global inventory of Patriot systems. Over 220 Patriot units owned by 14 nations, including Romania, represent a very large market and a good opportunity for export for the Romanian defense industry".

In October 2017, Raytheon signed with Aerostar a collaboration agreement concerning production and maintenance of Patriot systems acquired by Romania.

In December, defense minister Mihai Fifor said that Romania has made the payment for the first Patriot missile system. Fifor stressed that the Romanian army is not doing its shopping using money from the state budget, as it is trying to bring in as high amounts as possible to the defense industry through a tighter cooperation on an industrial level with arms producers, according to news.ro.

The cost of acquiring the first Patriot system is 910.1 million American dollars, including VAT, and the total estimated amount of the contract is 4.64 billion dollars, including TVA.

The Patriot of Raytheon represents a tactical anti-air and anti-missile system, which offers protection against a number of threats, including aircraft, tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and autonomous air vehicles.