The Minister of National Defence, Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca, who is on official visit to Portugal, over 26-28 January, following his counterpart, João Gomes Cravinho, established the main consolidation stages of the F-16 Squadron, which equip the Romanian Air Force.

Thus, beside the 12 aircraft which already equip the Romanian Armed Forces, the military aviation will procure 5 more multirole aircraft which have been modernized and upgraded to the requirements set in the contracts.

This visit complete the steps made several years ago, when Romania decided to build an air combat capability on the F-16 platform. It is practically a three-sided endeavor which involves two countries (Romania and Portugal) and USA, through Lockheed Martin Company, which facilitated the modernization and upgrading of the F-16 aircraft which was procured from the Portuguese Air Forces, minister Ciuca declared.

At the same time, the acquisition of these aircraft will offer the national defence industry the opportunity to create and develop the maintenance and repair capability of these platforms in Romania. During the visit to the OGMA Aerospace Company from Portugal, minister Ciuca analyzed the possibility to achieve technologic transfer in the benefit of our national defence industry, by continuing collaboration with the Portuguese party and direct involvement of Lockheed Martin Company.

The visit agenda from Portugal was also an opportunity for the two dignitaries to identify new cooperation fields, not only within common projects but also in the participation in NATO missions or CDSP partnership goals. Also, the two dignitaries approached subjects referring to the collaboration in the field of military education and bilateral and multinational exercises.

The Press Office