The military capabilities should meet the requirements of achieving the whole range of strategic missions, including those organized in peacetime and at war. In order to face the challenges against our national security in the next decade, the Romanian Armed Forces should use both their peacetime active forces and those to be augmented and mobilized. The Romanian Armed Forces functionally include operational, territorial and reserve forces.

The Operational Forces include Army mechanized, tank, artillery, mountain troops, air mobile, Air Force, air defense, and Navy formations and units, fully manned and adequately equipped and trained. In crisis and at war, they should be able to be subordinated to operational commands, aimed at setting up groups of forces necessary for conducting military actions both inside our national territory and abroad within multinational forces. The Territorial and Reserve Forces will include formations and units from each Service.

They are meant for conducting territorial defense, training and mobilization, as well as for supporting local authorities in civil emergencies. In crisis situations they may take part in active structures subordinated to the Joint Task Force Headquarters, for accomplishing the missions assigned to them.

At war, after their augmenting / mobilization and an intensive combat training, the territorial forces may conduct actions, according to the situation, being either subordinated to the Joint Task Force Headquarters or to the Territorial Commands. As far as action is concerned, the armed forces include: Surveillance and Early Warning Forces, Crisis Situations Response Forces, Main Forces and Reserve Forces. The operational category, in which each of these structures is included, determines the priorities of the respective unit in distributing resources, personnel, equipment and training.

It is highly required to achieve a balance in the armed forces, between the first priority units having a high readiness, and the forces having a reduced and variable readiness, representing most of the forces necessary for war. The Surveillance and Early Warning Forces include specialized structures, directly subordinated both to the General Staff, other central bodies of the Ministry of Defense, and to other armed services. They include reconnaissance and electronic warfare units and subunits, intelligence structures, as well as those used for C4I systems, and small, modular and mobile combat units.

They are responsible for the identification of forthcoming military conflicts and crises, the management of the factors conducting to the increase of threats against the national security, as well as for preventing surprise. These forces are, generally, in permanent combat readiness. The Crisis Situations Response Forces are responsible for the participation in crisis management, as well as for conducting the first response in case of an armed conflict. They participate in the efforts of achieving our military strategic objectives in peacetime and they are the main deterrent element.

These forces will be deployed as to provide operational capability in the main directions and zones of the areas of operation. The forces acting in crisis situations include:

The Rapid Reaction Force will include formations and units of all armed services, capable to act both independently and jointly. According to the decisions made by the National Command Authorities, a part of the reaction forces will be used within multinational structures in order to prevent conflicts, manage crises, and in other international missions conducted under the aegis of UN and OSCE.

The participant forces will have an adequate size, acting and deployment capabilities, as well as logistic support. The Main Forces include peacetime formations and units, most of them manned only partially. Though the basic personnel will include standing personnel, a significant percentage will be covered by conscripts. These forces will become operational at war only after being manned with human and material resources and after an adequate period of intensive combat training. In certain crisis situations, if the threat is escalated in a very short time, the active elements in their structure may be included in the group of forces meant for crisis management.

The Reserve Forces include formations and units established at mobilization. They have Commands, Training Centers and other units provided with structures and centers strictly necessary for working in peacetime. These centers establish, at mobilization, combat, combat service and logistics formations and units. The Main Forces and Reserve Forces achieve the combat capability after their manning /establishment and intensive training.

Structurally, the Romanian Armed Forces consist of:

For conducting special missions, both at the central and at each armed service level, Special Forces are established. These forces are the ones that initiate, develop and manage special operations in the area under the control of the aggressor.

The Land Forces are the basic component of the armed forces and are responsible for conducting the whole range of land and air mobile military actions in any area and in any direction independently or jointly with the other armed services, including defensive and offensive operations and actions in order to seize or annihilate the enemy who penetrated the national territory acting both within the national and multinational military structures.

The operational structures will include 8 combat brigades, 4 combat support and 2 logistic brigades. Part of the units included in the operational structure should be able to conduct actions outside the national territory, within multinational groups of forces. The mobilization and reserve structures will include 10 combat, 5 combat support and 2 logistic brigades.

The Air Forces are meant to defend state sovereignty within our national airspace, independently or in cooperation with the other armed services, as well as within groups of multinational forces, in order to gain and maintain control over the air space and to support from the air the land or maritime forces engaged in military actions. They will be mainly included in the category of surveillance or reaction forces.

The active forces will have an operational command, 2 air division commands, 4 air bases and 2 air defense brigades. Their reserve forces will include 2 air bases and 2 - 3 airfields.

The Naval Forces are meant to conduct military actions independently or in cooperation with other armed services, or within a multinational group of forces, in the maritime, river or land space of national interest, in order to: defend our own maritime and river communications; provide access to sea for Romania; secure our state legal rights within the exclusive economic area; hit enemy naval communications; deny the landing of maritime troops; defend Dobrudja; execute peacekeeping and humanitarian missions.

The structures will be included especially in the category of surveillance or rapid reaction forces and will be structured into an operational command, a Maritime Fleet, a River Flotilla and other forces.

The Maritime Fleet provides the protection and defense of the seacoast, of the territorial waters, as well as the protection of goods and interests of the Romanian state within the maritime space having a regime of exclusive economic area (or similar).

The operational forces of the Maritime Fleet should be able to provide an active presence in the international waters of the Black Sea for the protection of the interests of the Romanian state or international laws independently or in cooperation with the allied/partner forces. The naval units of the Maritime Fleet should be able to take part in combined peace support operations, within multinational groups of forces in the area of strategic interest for Romania, as well as to provide a limited presence in other areas in keeping with the commitments undertaken in the Partnership for Peace (integration into the North - Atlantic Alliance).

The River Flotilla provides the guard and defense of the Danube Delta, of the maritime and inner Danube, as well as the protection of the Romanian state interests within the border waters