Official ceremony to mark the complete equipping of the 48 Fighter Squadron with F-16 aircraft

 

On Tuesday, March 11, Minister of National Defence, Angel Tîlvăr, participated, in Câmpia Turzii, in the ceremony marking the complete equipping of the 48th Fighter Squadron with F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft, a newly established unit within the 71st "General Emanoil Ionescu"Air Base. 

The ceremony was attended by the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to Bucharest, Her Excellency Hilde Svartdal Lunde and the Chief of Air Force Staff, Lieutenant General Leonard-Gabriel Baraboi. 

Angel Tîlvăr emphasized the significance that the smooth implementation of the contract for the acquisition of 32 F-16 aircraft from the Norwegian Air Force surplus has in relation to the security of Romania and NATO's eastern flank.

"The completion of this modernization phase will soon allow the Romanian Air Force to conduct missions to defend national and allied airspace with three squadrons equipped with F-16 fighter jets deployed to three air bases," Minister Tîlvăr said.

Minister of National Defence its expressed appreciation for the way the Norwegian side meets the obligations undertaken by the contract between the two governments.

"Norway is an important ally for Romania, the bilateral defence cooperation ensuring consistency in the wide-ranging process intended to modernize and develop our country's defence capabilities," said Angel Tîlvăr.

 Minister of National Defence evoked the fairness and viability of the decision taken more than 10 years ago to build a transition capability for the Romanian Air Force to 5th generation aircraft consisting in F-16 aircraft: "this F-16-based program offered our military aviation the opportunity to fundamentally change the mentality of its professional corps, ensured access to modern and interoperable air combat technologies, enabled the operating infrastructure to reach the state-of-the-art standards and, most importantly, catalyzed the transition to the world's top-of-the-range in combat aviation equipment, the F-35 aircraft."

Angel Tîlvăr has also mentioned that the national defence industry is part of this successful program, the modernization of all Romanian Air Force F-16 aircraft to the M6.6 standard will be carried out in the country, at Aerostar Bacău. "It is an important asset for us, which matters not only nationally, but also regionally. And the prospect of procuring F-35 aircraft will certainly create new industrial cooperation opportunities for our national economic operators," the minister said.

The program conducted at the 71st Air Base also included an information visit to the construction site of certain infrastructure facilities, as part of the Base's expansion and modernization project.

At the end of the activity, a tactical exercise was conducted with F-16 Fighting Falcon formations.

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At the end of January, an F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft, purchased by Romania from the Kingdom of Norway, landed at the 71st Air Base "General Emanoil Ionescu", in Câmpia Turzii, thus completing the 48th Fighter Squadron with all its 16 aircraft.

The acquisition of the new batch of F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft and the related package of goods and services ensures increased security for Romania by defending the national/NATO airspace, in peacetime and in crisis situations, through the Permanent Combat Service - Air Policing, under national and allied command.

The reception of the remaining 16 F-16 aircraft is expected by the end of this year, which will become part of the 571st Fighter Squadron, established within the 57th "Captain Aviator Constantin Cantacuzino" Air Base  in Mihail Kogălniceanu.

 

The Press Office