Romania has signed a contract for 12 Airbus H225M multirole helicopters, turning a procurement plan disclosed last year into a firm order and giving Airbus a long-sought military helicopter contract in the country.
The acquisition was concluded with France's Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) under the European Union's Security Action for Europe (SAFE) program. Romania had already disclosed plans to acquire 12 H225Ms in November 2025, when the Ministry of National Defence sought parliamentary approval for the program.
The helicopters will begin replacing Romanian Air Force IAR-330 Pumas used for conventional and special operations. Airbus did not disclose a delivery schedule.
Romania has operated the Puma family for approximately five decades. IAR began producing the IAR-330 under license from France's Aérospatiale in the 1970s, eventually building more than 160 aircraft in several configurations for domestic and export customers.
Long Airbus campaign in Romania
The order follows years of attempts by Airbus to secure a Romanian military helicopter contract. The manufacturer established Airbus Helicopters Industries at Ghimbav, near Brașov, in 2016 with plans for H215 production, but the large domestic order expected to support the project did not materialize.
Airbus and IAR subsequently maintained their industrial partnership, which eventually shifted toward the H225M. The manufacturer says the new contract will strengthen that cooperation but has not detailed the Romanian industrial participation associated with the 12 aircraft.
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Romania has separately ordered two H215Ms in naval configuration and recently acquired seven H160s and five H145s for public-service missions, the latter also through the EU's SAFE initiative.
The H225M, previously known as the EC725 Caracal, is a military development of the Super Puma family designed for missions including tactical transport, special operations and combat search and rescue.
Romania becomes the 12th H225M customer. Airbus says more than 350 civil H225s and military H225Ms are in service worldwide and have accumulated more than one million flight hours.
