The Ministry of National Defence salutes the endorsement of the Law on the continuation of the development of the air operational capability, as part of the Initial Transition Stage of the Conception for the Gradual Building of the Air Defence Capability, within the Air Force Multirole Aircraft.

The Romanian Government will attribute to the Government of the Portuguese Republic the acquisition contract of five F-16 A aircraft from the Portuguese surplus, a package of goods and services which includes the modernization of the F-16 aircraft which is currently in the service of the Romanian Air Force, logistic support elements and the training of the engineers.

The Letter of Offer and Acceptance - LOA specific to the Foreign Military Sales FMS-type contracts will be assigned to the Government of the United States of America for the procurement of the package of goods and service complementary to the above mentioned acquisition contract.

The contract assignment will be made by respecting the provisions of Art. 22 letter f) of Government Ordinance no.114/2011, approved by Law no. 195/2012.

The first four out of the five aircraft lot will arrive in 2020, while the last one will be delivered in 2021. The five F-16 aircraft will join the 12 which already conduct national and NATO Air Policing missions.

The five aircraft will have the same configuration with the 12 ones that are already in the service of the Romanian Air Forces, respectively M.5.2R, and the package of goods and services includes the modernization of all F -16 aircraft operated by the Romanian Armed Forces, at a superior configuration, respectively M.6.X.

The endorsement of this law sets the premises for the involvement of the national defence industry in the execution of the maintenance and major repair works and modernization of the F-16s at the M.6.X standard. The Romanian Government will assign the economic operator which will provide for the maintenance of this type of aircraft.

The Ministry of National Defence continues the modernization and acquisition of the military equipment, 2019 being the third year Romania allocated 2% of the GDP for defence expenditures.

Romania is among the top contributors within the Alliance in this field, which confers our country the status of a credible NATO and EU partner.

Several other major procurement programs of the Romanian Armed Forces are currently in different stages of implementation, the Government's intention being to involve the national defence industry manufacturers by means of off-set-type operations.

The Press Office