The aircraft landed at Bucharest Otopeni airport on 12 April and have now been formally accepted by the Romanian air force.
That's what Alenia wants everybody to believe, but it's not the case.
The planes have not been accepted into service yet because they are not in the configuration specified in the contract terms. Most notably the self defence suite is missing - check the photos, there are no sensors there, just simple lids on the relevant places. Here's what the Romanian MoD communique stated (in Romanian):
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the relevant passage being:
Avioanele sunt puse la dispoziţie de către Compania Alenia Aeronautica SpA, fără efectuare de plăţi, într-o configuraţie iniţială de echipare care permite ridicarea nivelului de instruire a piloţilor militari, prin demararea procesului de operaţionalizare în paralel cu transferul gradual de responsabilitate privind exploatarea aeronavelor. Cele două aeronave vor intra în înzestrarea Forţelor Aeriene Române după ce vor fi configurate final, conform cerinţelor din contractul de achiziţie.
translated:
The aircraft are made available by the company Alenia Aeronautica SpA, without payments being made, in an initial equipped configuration which permits the raising of the level of training of military pilots by starting the process of operationalization in paralel with the gradual transfer of responsibility regarding the usage of the aircraft. The two aircraft will enter the inventory of the Romanian Air Force after being given the final configuration, in accordance with the acquisition contract.
Late last year, in an interview, the cief of the procurement department in the Romanian MoD stated that the latest delays in the delivery of the C-27J were caused by Alenia's inability to secure in time the export aproovals for several subsystems. Quite an irony, since the self protection suite was one of two main reasons for the selection of C-27J over C-295 (the second being the max height of the freight pallets, in order to have interoperability with the Hercules)
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