The Minister of Defense, Angel Tîlvăvă, announced that the Romanian Air Forces will soon defend the national and ally air space with three squadrons endowed with F-16 fighter jets, arranged on three air bases.
F-16/photo plane: MApN
“The completion of this stage of modernization will allow, soon, to the Romanian Air Force to carry out missions to define the national and ally air space with three squadrs endowed with F-16 fighter jets arranged on three air bases”, The minister said.
The Romanian Minister of Defense participated on Tuesday in the Campia Turzii ceremony along with the ambassador of the Norway Kingdom in Bucharest, ES Hilde Svartdal Lunde and the chief of the General Staff of the Air Force, General Lieutenant Leonard-Gabriel Baracea.
During the young event, he emphasized the significance that the carrying out in good conditions of the purchase contract of 32 F-16 aircraft from the surplus of the Norwegian Air Forces is in relation to the Security of Romania and the Eastern NATO flank.
Also, the minister appreciated how Norway is paid by the obligations assumed by the contract between the two governments.
“Norway is an important ally for Romania, bilateral cooperation in the field of defense ensuring consistency of the extensive process of modernizing and developing the defense capacities of our country”, Said Angel Tîlvă.
“This program has catalyzed the transition to the end of the range, the F-35 aircraft”
Tîlvan said that the program based on F-16 aircraft has provided access to modern air fighting technologies and the transition to the equipment of Romanian Air Force with F-35 aircraft.
“This program based on the F-16 aircraft has provided our military aviation the opportunity to fundamentally change the mentality of its professional body, has ensured access to modern and interoperable air fighting technologies, allowed to bring the operating infrastructure to the most modern standards and, most importantly, catalyzed the transition to equipment with the range of the range in the world,“, The minister said.
Also, Angel Tîlvăvă showed that the national defense industry is part of this successful program, the modernization of all F-16 aircraft from the endowment of the Romanian Air Forces to the standard M6.6 to be carried out in the country, at Aerostar Bacău.
“It is an important asset to us, which matters not only nationally, but also in our region. And the prospect of equipping with F-35 aircraft will certainly create new industrial cooperation opportunities for economic operators in our country“, Said the minister.
The program carried out on the 71 Aerial basis also included an information visit on the construction site of infrastructure objectives, as part of the project of expanding and modernizing the base.
At the end of the activity, a tactical exercise with F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft was carried out.
Agree with the US for 400 Bombs for F-16 aircraft
On February 18, the Government of Romania requested the purchase of 400 GBU-39B (SDB-I) bombs and two GBU-39 (T-1)/B bombs, along with auxiliary equipment, testing and training systems. The contract will be carried out by the American company The Boeing Company, based in St. Louis, reports economics.
“This proposed sale will support foreign policy objectives and national security objectives by improving the security of a NATO ally, which is an important force for political and economic stability in Europe ”is shown in the press release of the American Agency.
