Certification ceremony of the Royal Canadian Air Forces detachment with a view of conducting Enhanced Air Poling missions

On Wednesday, 8th September, State Secretary for Defence Policy, Planning and International Relations, Simona Cojocaru, participated, together with the Canadian Ambassador to Bucharest, Annick Goulet, and the Commander of the Combined Air Operational Center (CAOC) Torrejón, Lieutenant General Fernando de la Cruz, in the certification ceremony of the Royal Canadian Air Forces detachment with a view of conducting Enhanced Air Poling missions, which took place in the 57th Mihail Kogãlniceanu Air Base.

“Ensuring the security of the air space is of utmost importance for Romania as well as for NATO’s entire Eastern Flank. This mission also provides the capacity of a rapid and efficient response to any potential aggression by increasing interoperability and consolidating the relations among allies. Our bilateral cooperation with Canada does not consist only in the air policing missions, Canada bringing its contribution to all three NATO multinational structures established in Romania: MNBDE SE, MND SE HQ and MNC SE HQ”, state secretary Simona Cojocaru stated in her allocution.

At the same time, the Romanian dignitary emphasized the fact that it is imperative that NATO’s deterrence and defence posture be consolidated by ensuring a forward presence of NATO on its Eastern Flank as well as by continuing developing NATO’s capabilities and enhancing its capacity of facing the entire range of threats, no matter their origin.

In his message, the Canadian Ambassador to Romania, Annick Goulet, appreciated the good collaboration relation between the Romanian and Canadian soldiers and highlighted the fact that Canada’s participation in the NATO-led Air Policing mission proves the tight and privileged relation between the two countries in all the fields.

The Commander of CAOC Torrejón, Lieutenant General Fernando de la Cruz, mentioned in his speech that “this ceremony marks a very important moment for the Alliance, the presence in Romania of the Canadian detachment for the sixth time emphasizing the long-lasting trans-Atlantic link between the NATO allies”.

The Canadian detachment made up of approximately 140 military personnel (pilots and technical staff) and six CF-188 Hornet aircraft will conduct NATO-led Enhanced Air Policing missions for the following three 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 fifth rotation of the Canadian Royal Air Forces at Mihail Kogãlniceanu, after the ones executed in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. Also, the Canadian soldiers have also conducted a mission in Romania, at Câmpia Turzii, in 2014.

The air policing missions conducted jointly contribute to the development of the reaction and deterrence capacity as well as to the increase of interoperability between the Romanian Air Force and the Canadian ones.

The deployment of the CF-188 Hornet aircraft to Romania is part of the implementation of the Action Plan in order to ensure NATO’s operational capacity on the Alliance Eastern Flank, both on its Northern area and the Southern one, and demonstrates NATO’s unity and determination in response to the challenges posed to the security environment.

The Press Office