FORCE REPORT // ROMANIAN F-16S
Since joining NATO in 2004, the Romanian military has faced significant modernization challenges. However, the service entry of second-hand F-16 Fighting Falcons has enabled its air force to become far more capable, ready to meet regional commitments.
HERE WE ARE in the southeastern part of Romania’, says Gen Cătălin Băhneanu, who has been the commander of Baza 86 Aeriană at Borcea-Fetești since September 2012, ‘a few steps away from the Black Sea coast that is not only the national border, but for 15 years now it also represents the eastern border for the whole of NATO. On the other side is Crimea.’
The Romanian Air Force (Fortele Aeriene ale Romaniei, FAR) takes the defense of its airspace very seriously, something that assumed a new level of importance when Russian forces invaded Crimea in 2014. ‘The main purpose of our base is defending this airspace’, adds Băhneanu, ‘and to do so it was chosen to host the first group equipped with the most modern fighters available in our air force.’
Those ‘most modern fighters’ are Romania’s F-16 Fighting Falcons. In October 2013, the FAR announced the purchase of 12 secondhand F-16s — nine single-seat F-16AMs and three twin-seat F-16BMs — from Portugal.
