Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- Utah's 47G delegation visited Bulgaria and Romania amid U.S.-Ukraine tensions.
- Romania's $7.2 billion F-35 deal sparks economic opportunities, despite political instability.
- 47G fosters Eastern European ties, highlighting business influence over fluctuating political climates.
SALT LAKE CITY — A delegation of organizations associated with the Utah aerospace and defense group 47G traveled to Bulgaria and Romania at the beginning of March, aiming to create new business relationships.
The visit just happened to come on the heels of a heated argument between President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vice President JD Vance, which was live-streamed from the Oval Office.
"The problem is, I've empowered you to be a tough guy, and I don't think you'd be a tough guy without the United States," Trump told Zelenskyy toward the end of the press conference. "And your people are very brave, but you're either going to make a deal or we're out; and if we're out, you'll fight it out."
"All of that was unfolding while we were over there," said Dominic Kelly, executive director of Ogden-based KordUSA and a member of the Utah delegation. "It's quite an exciting time to be there because we're on the cutting edge of U.S. policy while we're there."
Kelly has traveled a number of times to Ukraine, including with 47G, supplying the military there with a centralized remote control for weapon-mounted and body-worn electronic devices.
In September 2024, Romania was approved for a potential $7.2 billion sale of 32 F-35s and associated equipment, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, inking the deal in November. The NATO-member country expects those aircraft by the early 2030s.
"If you're a country receiving an F-35, then downstream from that there's pilot training, there's facilities that need to be built, there's a lot of ancillary opportunities and economic development that will take place because you're a host of the F-35," said 47G President Aaron Starks, who was also part of the delegation. "In addition to that, they're saying, 'What about artillery?' 'What about armored vehicles?' 'What about these other things that will help us, as a NATO country, secure our borders?'"
Romania shares a border with Ukraine and has given millions to its neighbor at war, including one of its two U.S. patriot missile systems last September, but the two countries are at a significant crossroads. A presidential election that would have seen candidate Calin Georgescu end Romanian support for Ukraine was annulled in December 2024 on accusations of Russian interference, Reuters reported. The repeat election will be decided in mid-May.
"There's a lot of Russian propaganda being spread in that part of the world right now," Starks said. "Russia is running candidates in presidential elections in these markets because Russia doesn't want to lose the grip that they've had for so long in that part of the world. But, you have a new crop of leadership who wants to be close to the United States, is committed to being a good partner, and wants to enjoy the same democratic freedoms and principles that we get to as United States citizens."
According to Starks, officials in Romania were "hyperfocused on whether or not the United States was going to continue investing in and commit to prioritizing them as a partner."
"What they're looking for right now is commitment. Donald Trump and President Zelenskyy obviously have clashed, and so that part of the world is asking if the U.S. support, as a commitment to Eastern Europe, is wobbly," Starks said. He also said residents on the shores of the Black Sea regularly find "drone shrapnel and military components that have been washed their direction from Ukraine and Russia."
"This is where 47G is very powerful as an organization," Kelly said. "All the politicians there realize ... that politicians come and go, but it's really these business-to-business relationships which are extremely powerful."
About 17 representatives from various companies and organizations went on the trip. In attendance was Sandy-based Guardian Construction, which builds F-35 facilities at Hill Air Force Base; St. George-based Intergalactic, which builds thermal systems for lasers and aircraft; West Valley City's Nusano, which uses particle acceleration to make radioisotopes; Utah Tech University; the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and others.
"We met with the president of Bulgaria," Kelly said. "He was very candid with us. He didn't hold anything back — and if he had anything negative to say, I'm sure he would have said it. But he had nothing but positive things to say about the United States, which is very exciting."
Kelly said the domestic attitude toward sending funding to Ukraine "isn't a seismic shift at all. This is just a policy adjustment with another country."
Kelly's company will be back in Romania for a small special operations conference, where he hopes his talks in March will transform into orders. Starks is working with the Romanian government, which has given his organization a list of needed technologies and gaps to fill. He will be playing "matchmaker," he says, to make those deals happen.
"47G has given us a back door into Europe," Kelly said. "Those traditional countries — like Germany, France, Poland — are difficult countries to deal with. Long-term relationships have to be established. It takes a very long time to pull off a deal.
"But with these back door countries, which are really on the front line and emerging very, very fast ... they are far more exciting to deal with. And I think us being nimble (subject matter experts) and primes in the United States, we can move it work these countries and see results very rapidly," he said.
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