A member of
the so-called Warsaw Pact whereby the USSR gathered its satellites from Central
and Eastern Europe to create a collective defense system, Romania gained its independence
and eventually joined NATO. Two decades on, the logistics transition is still
underway. The Soviet-era equipment of the Romanian army is gradually replaced
with state-of-the-art modern technology, produced in allied countries with
ground-breaking technological advancements. At the 86 military base in Fetești,
preparations are underway to train Romanian pilots who will transition from the
Soviet-made MiG-21 jets to the better-performing American F-16 fighter jets.
The training center already has five F-16s on standby, while the Netherlands
will deliver another 18 jets to Romania by the end of the year. At present,
Romania’s air fleet consists of 17 F-16 jets purchased from Portugal, while
Romania has signed a contract with Norway for the delivery of another 32 jets.
The European Training Center was set up based on a cooperation agreement
between NATO allies, according to which the Romanian Defense Ministry provides
the air base and training facilities, the Dutch side provides the F-16 jets,
while the famous American company Lockheed Martin, the aircraft manufacturer,
will provide the trainers and maintenance. Attending the inauguration ceremony
were the Dutch Defense Minister, Kajsa Ollongren and Western diplomats. Romania’s
defense Minister Angel Tîlvăr:
Given we’re
about to receive 32 new aircraft, to us it is extremely important to train
Romanian pilots. F-16 jets will be operational in Europe for at least another
20 years. They are important. So, we want our pilots to be well-trained.
The Fetești
center will have trainers from every NATO state, and participants will include
not just pilots from NATO, but also partner states, including neighboring
Ukraine. In a post on X, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, thanked his
counterpart from Romania, Klaus Iohannis, and the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark
Rutte, for implementing the agreements on delivering highly-performing fighter
jets to Ukraine and training Ukrainian pilots to operate these aircraft. At
present, pilots from Ukraine are being trained in the United States and Denmark.
The training of Ukrainian pilots in Fetești will take nearly six months,
experts say. (VP)