The defense industry can become an important engine of economic growth for the next 20-25 years, amid accelerated rearmament and the need to develop European industrial capacities, said Marian Năstase, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alro.

“I am absolutely convinced that the defense industry is an engine of economic growth because it engages many segments horizontally,” said Marian Năstase, quoted by Agerpres.

According to him, the current stage of rearmament at the European level will continue in the long term.

“I believe this rearmament phase will last between 20 and 25 years, not 10-15 years. Alro exports 82% of civilian production and dual applications,” said Năstase.

He drew attention to the shortage of industrial capacities in Europe and the need to convert some civilian factories to military production.

“There are no manufacturing platforms. Europe has no manufacturing platforms. (…) There is a process of converting civilian factories into military factories,” added the chairman of the Alro Board of Directors.

Năstase also stressed the importance of short supply chains in the context of current geopolitical tensions.

“Supply chains must be a priority,” he said, pointing out that Europe’s dependence on imports from China has proven to be a vulnerability in wartime.

In his opinion, Romania must focus on areas where it can perform competitively and support the development of mass production for new military technologies, including drones.