National Defense Minister Ionut Mosteanu said on Wednesday that Romania is to acquire from the Netherlands 18 F-16s by the end of the year, for the symbolic amount of „one euro”, as Mosteanu and his Dutch counterpart Ruben Brekelmans
were to sign a relevant Memorandum of Understanding. The 18 F-16 fighter jets – actually a donation of the Netherlands to the European F-16 Training Centre in Romania – will become property of the Romanian state by the end of the year, Mosteanu said.

The minister had an intervention during the press conference delivered by President Nicusor Dan in The Hague, in the context of their participation in the NATO Summit.

At their Wednesday meeting on the sidelines of the Summit, Mosteanu and Brekelmans focused on the further development of the F-16 Training Center in Romania – a strategic facility that contributes substantially to strengthening air training of Romania, as well as of NATO allies and partners.

„The F-16 Training Center is a concrete and valuable result of the bilateral cooperation between Romania and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with the essential support of the American partners at Lockheed Martin. The center represents an advanced training platform that is unique in Europe, which offers Romanian, Ukrainian and other allied and partner pilots access to top-level training programs, in accordance with NATO standards,” the Romanian official said, as cited in a release of the National Defense Ministry.

At the end of the meeting, the two ministers signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the expansion of the capabilities of Romania’s F-16 Training Center, a document reflecting the joint commitment to continue the development of this facility by setting the necessary framework for the transfer of ownership of the 18 F-16 jets from the Netherlands to Romania.

„This step underlines the determination of the two states to actively support the strengthening of the training capabilities of the Air Forces of NATO allied and partner states, contributing to maintaining a sustainable and predictable security climate in the Black Sea region,” the National Defense Ministry said.

AGERPRES