Defense News: Romania will arm with American F-35s

2

The Supreme Council of National Defense of Romania (CSAT) at a meeting on April 11 approved a plan to acquire American F-35 Lightning II fighters to upgrade the country's air force. Bucharest's decision indicates that it will become Washington's next Eastern European ally to operate these fifth-generation aircraft, writes Defense News.

A communiqué from the office of Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who chairs CSAT, said that these fighters should seriously enhance the capabilities of the Romanian Air Force.



The Air Force modernization process will continue with the purchase of the latest generation of F-35 aircraft. These planes… make it possible to achieve and maintain air superiority, a prerequisite for ensuring sovereignty in national airspace and, if necessary, defending it

- says the official message.

At the same time, the number of purchased fighters and the total cost of the purchase were not disclosed. The Romanian Air Force currently operates 17 used F-16s purchased from Portugal. In 2022, the Romanian government signed a contract to buy 32 more used F-16s from Norway.

Thus, Romania joins a growing group of NATO partners who have set their sights on the aforementioned high-tech products of the American corporation Lockheed Martin. In July 2022, the Czech government began negotiations with the United States for the purchase of 24 F-35s. In January 2020, Warsaw closed a deal to acquire 32 F-35 fighter jets and a training and logistics package for the Polish Air Force for $4,6 billion, the media concluded.

We remind you that Finland, which recently joined NATO, back in December 2021 announced the purchase of 8,4 billion euros from Lockheed Martin for 64 F-35A multi-role fighters to replace 62 F / A-18 Hornet units. In addition, "neutral" Switzerland in 2022 acquired 36 of the latest 5th generation fighter jets from Lockheed Martin for about 6 billion Swiss francs to replace aging F / A-18 Hornets and F-5s.
2 comments
Information
Dear reader, to leave comments on the publication, you must sign in.
  1. Scharnhorst
    Scharnhorst
    0
    April 13 2023 16: 37
    The situation with the purchase of the F-35 by Europe from America is very reminiscent of the times of the voluntary-compulsory purchase of the F-104. As soon as everyone pays and pampers, it will become obvious that there are serious flaws in the design, the prohibitive high cost of operation and the inconsistency with the assigned combat missions ...
  2. vlad127490
    vlad127490
    0
    April 14 2023 22: 52
    Romania's purchase of the F-35 should not worry us. Russia is not going to attack Romania. The fighting between Romania and the Russian Federation will be the beginning of a world nuclear war, here the F-35s will not be useful. With whom else is Romania going to fight? With Ukraine?