The South-East Multinational Corps in Sibiu (Central Romania) has recently played host to the 25th edition of the Land Corps’ Commanders Conference. Land corps commanders of the allied states convened for a series of high-ranking talks focusing on land command and control, operational planning, but also on the proper integration of the land forces into NATO’s strategic framework.
For the Romanian Army’s Media Agency, here is what the Commander of NATO’s Allied Land Headquarters, general Darryl Williams, said “the Black Sea region is very important for the security of the Alliance as a whole, while Romania, through the South-East Multinational Corps is the guaranteeing entity for stability and security in this NATO region.”
Romanian Defence Minister Angel Tilvar in Bucharest has recently met his Portuguese counterpart, Nuno Melo, who paid a visit to several military structures in Romania. The two ministers held talks on the cooperation in the field of security and joint exercises and initiatives. The Portuguese army has a company in Romania as part of the Craiova-based South-east Multinational Brigade, as well as military in the structures hosted by Romania.
Minister Tilvar stated Romania and Portugal enjoyed mutual support in the management of the security challenges the two countries face in their regions. Nuno Melo also paid a visit to the Galati Damen Shipyard in the east. We recall the construction in underway, in the Damen Shipyard, of a drone carrier for the Portuguese Military Navy. The contract was signed in November 2023 following a tender.
The project is financed by the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Program. The ship will carry unmanned underwater, surface and air vehicles. The delivery of the ship was estimated for 2026.
The North-Atlantic Alliance has dispatched to Romania an AWACS air surveillance aircraft, in a bid to support the Allies’ strengthened presence in the region and in order to monitor the Russian Federation’s military activity.
According to the Allied Air Commander, the enhanced vigilance in the Romanian air space was legitimate. It had the purpose of strengthening Romania’s capacity to respond to the increased air activity in the vicinity of its borders. Among other reasons, the Alliance took such a measure in the wake of Russia’s recent drone attacks on objectives in Ukraine. The attacks trespassed into Romania’s air space, while pieces of the drone fell on Romanian territory.
Romania Navy’s Dredger 30 has returned to Constanta Military Port in the south-east. We recall the dredger took part in the second activation of the Operative group for combating sea mines in the Black Sea. For ten days running, the Romanian vessel, jointly with a mine sweeper and a logistics ship, both from Turkey, and accompanied by another mine sweeper of the Bulgarian Navy carried sea surveillance and research missions in a bid to eliminate the danger of mines and to ensure Freedom of navigation in the Black Sea. MCM Black Sea, the Operative group for combating sea mines in the Black Sea, is a three-party initiative of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. The initiative contributes to strengthening the ties with the Allies as well as to the enhancement of the interoperability level between the crews of the partner ships.
Allied troops from Belgium, Bulgaria, Luxemburg, North Macedonia, Polonia, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Turkey and Great Britain, jointly with Romanian Army’s Mountain Hunters, until October 11 participate in the Sarmis-Olt 24. Exercise. The exercise seeks to train and perfect the military’s abilities to activate in a multinational and inter-institutional framework, laying emphasis on interoperability and cooperation between the participating structures.
