COMBAT REPORT // ENHANCED AIR POLICING
Between early May and the middle of August, four Italian Air Force Eurofighters were deployed to Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base to fly alongside Romanian Air Force MiG-21 LanceRs policing the skies adjacent to the Black Sea.
SINCE ROMANIA JOINED NATO in 2004, its airspace has been guarded by the somewhat long-in-thetooth MiG-21 LanceRs of the Romanian Air Force (Forțele Aeriene Romane – FAR) as part of NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defence System (NATINAMDS). In a bid to beef-up Romanian air cover and to encourage interoperability training between partner nations, enhanced air policing has seen other NATO countries deploying here since 2014.
From early May until mid-August this year, the Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare, AM) assumed this role in Romania as the Task Force Air 4th Wing, better known as Operation ‘Black Shield’.
In an exclusive interview with Combat Aircraft, task force commander Col Andrea Fazi said, ‘Protecting the eastern flank is, of course, a priority for NATO and Romania due to its geographical position — it is strategically very important.’
Four Eurofighter F-2000As deployed to Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base accompanied by around 130 per…
