Official visit to the 71st Câmpia Turzii Air Base Headquarters

The soldiers of the 71st “General Emanoil Ionescu" Air Base from Câmpia Turzii, Cluj County, will receive the visit of the United States' Chargé d'Affaires in Bucharest, David Muniz, and the Commander of the 31st Aviano Squadron, Brigadier General Jason E. Bailey, on Thursday, 4th February.

During the visit, the officials will discuss common interest subjects in the air force field such as the contribution and role of the Romanian and US Air Forces within the NATO reassurance measures of the North-Atlantic Alliance Eastern Flank as well as the bilateral cooperation within the Romanian –US Strategic Partnership.

A MQ-9 Reaper Aircraft will be presented in a static exhibition, during the visit.

The journalists interested in participating in the exhibition and the press statements made during the visit are asked to send their identification data (name, surname, series and number of the identity card, the media institution they represent, their phone number and the registration number of the uplink van) by February 3rd, 14.00, on mail address: proff@roaf.ro.

The mass-media representatives will be expected on Thursday, February 4th, between 10.00 – 10.30, at the 71st Câmpia Turzii Air Base Headquarters, Cluj County.

Point of contact: Colonel Ionuț NEAMU, cell phone number: 0724 348 252.

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A detachment made up of MQ-9 Reaper aircraft and almost 90 soldiers of the United States Air Force is deployed for the following months to the 71st “General Emanoil Ionescu" Air Base from Câmpia Turzii.

The US soldiers will conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions in support of the NATO operations, while the Romanian Air Force will ensure, by means of the 71st “General Emanoil Ionescu" Air Base from Câmpia Turzii, the technical, operational and logistic support during the missions conducted throughout the detachment’s deployment to Romania.

The presence of the American partners on our country’s territory is an opportunity to develop, test and evaluate the combat capability, the activities conducted jointly being a key-element in the process of increasing the interoperability level between the two parties.

The collaboration between the United States of America and Romania contribute to the consolidation of the collective defence capacity and increase of regional security.

The MQ-9 Reaper aircraft is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) able to conduct long-distance or autonomous flight missions, being developed by the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI), mainly for the United States Air Force (USAF).

The personnel which operates the aircraft is usually deployed in stationing military facilities and can engage targets and observe terrain by using multiple sensors, including a thermographic camera. The command of the operator lasts 1.2 seconds in order to be delivered to the drone by means of a satellite connection. MQ-9 Reaper is equipped with six stores pylons, the inner stores pylons can carry a maximum of 680 kg each and allow carriage of external fuel tanks. The mid-wing stores pylons can carry a maximum of 270 kg each, while the outer stores pylons can carry a maximum of 91 kg each.

The Press Office