On Thursday, 29th April, State Secretary and Chief of Department for Defence Policy, Planning and Defence Policy Simona Cojocaru, and the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant General Vasile Toader, participated in the 57th Air Base Mihail Kogalniceanu , Constanta County, in the NATO certification ceremony of the British Royal Air Force Detachment deployed for the execution of the enhanced Air Policing Service.

The Strategic Partnership between Romania and Great Britain is solid and powerful. Today, Great Britain contributes again to the consolidation of Romanian security and the Black Sea Region. The participation of the British Royal Air Force Detachment to this year air policing missions conducted on Romanian territory the third mission of this kind after the ones conducted in 2017 and 2018 - but also the intention to participate in the next year mission demonstrates the constant commitment of the United Kingdom to our region. Your presence here is not an exercise. It represents the essence of the deterrence and defence posture which demonstrate unity and solidarity, State Secretary Simona Cojocaru stated in her speech.

The Ambassador of Great Britain to Bucharest, Andrew Noble, declared during the ceremony that This is the third summer the British Air Force spends in Romania as NATO partners. In this capacity, we use these peacetime collective defence missions to train together and increase our interoperability level. These air policing missions are the guarantee that we can counteract any aggression headed against us.

In his allocution, Lieutenant General Vasile Toader welcomed the 200 soldiers (pilots and technical staff) of the British Detachment which arrived in Romania. I invited the British allies to participate, during their stay, in the exercises scheduled to take place over May-June which aim at increasing the interoperability and prove the engagement of forces at multi-level as well as to discover the richness of the natural culture and the beauty of the places and enjoy the Romanian hospitality, stated the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff.

Air Commodore General Jason Appleton, Deputy Chief of Staff Support, Allied Air Command (NATO Aircom) from Ramstein, Germany, welcomed the British soldiers and wished them good luck in the accomplishment of the enhanced Air Policing Mission together with the Romanian military personnel, as part of the NATO deterrence and defence measures on its Eastern Flank.

The British Detachment made up of approximately 200 soldiers (pilots and technical personnel) with four Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft will conduct NATO-led enhanced Air Policing missions over the following four months together with the Romanian Air Force soldiers and the F-16 Fighting Falcon and MiG-21 LanceR aircraft.

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This is the third rotation of the British Royal Air Forces at Mihail Kogalniceanu after the first two conducted in 2017 and 2018.

The joint enhanced Air Policing missions contribute to the development of the reaction and deterrence capability as well as to the consolidation of the interoperability between the Romanian and British forces by demonstrating involvement and determination in the context of the challenges posed by the COVID -19 pandemics.

The Press Office