National Defence Minister Angel Tilvar participated on Tuesday at the 57th Capitan Aviator Constantin Cantacuzino Air Base in Mihail Kogalniceanu in the mission-ready certification ceremony for the Spanish Air Force detachment deployed to Romania for conducting enhanced air policing missions together with the Romanian Air Force, the Defense Ministry reports.

In the speech delivered on this occasion, Minister Tilvar termed the participation of the Spanish troops in the missions in Romania as proof of cohesion and allied solidarity, which demonstrates „the collective determination of the members of the North Atlantic Alliance to strengthen NATO’s reaction and deterrence capacity at the Black Sea.”

„We must be flexible to changes in the security situation facing the Alliance and we must convey a strong and unequivocal public message: we are working together under the umbrella of the largest defense alliance to protect the airspace of NATO’s southeastern flank, a region with a complex security architecture, especially after the start of the war in Ukraine, in February 2022. We remain vigilant and we stand in solidarity to respond to the new security challenges,” Angel Tilvar said.

The ceremony was also attended by Chief of Defense Staff, General Gheorghita Vlad, representatives of the Spanish Embassy in Romania, of NATO’s Combined Air Operations Centre (CAOC) Torrejón, and of the Spanish Air Force, as well as by the Romanian Air Force Chief of Staff.

The roughly 150-strong Spanish detachment (pilots and technical personnel) with eight F-18 Hornets will perform in the next four months, together with their Romanian Air Force peers, enhanced air policing missions under NATO command.

Joint air policing missions contribute to the development of the reaction and deterrence capacity, as well as to strengthening the interoperability of the Romanian and the Spanish Air Forces.

AGERPRES