Romania has officially opened an F-16 training center that would provide service to Ukrainian pilots as well as NATO allies at the 86th Air Base in Fetesti.
The announcement of the new training center was made by the Romanian Ministry of National Defense. The center was inaugurated by Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar and his Dutch counterpart Kajsa Ollongren.
Romania's New F-16 Training Center
Romania announced the opening of a new F-16 training center that would service pilots from NATO allies as well as Ukraine.
The European F-16 Training Center (EFTC) will serve as an international hub for F-16 pilot training as well as boost interoperability between allied nations. It would also help in training Romanian pilots and those that come from allied and partner countries.
Under a cooperation agreement, the Romanian Defense Ministry provided the air base, the Netherlands contributed F-16 aircraft units, and the Lockheed Martin company supplied instructors and maintenance for the equipment.
Ukrainian pilots are expected to undergo roughly six months of training at the new training center. The EFTC is believed to enable Ukraine to build expertise in operating the F-16 as part of its air force capabilities, as per Euromaidan Press.
The opening of the new center comes as pilots from Ukraine have already started to receive training on F-16 fighter jets last Oct. 25 in the United States at an air base located in Arizona. The new Romanian training center has was also built to better position military alliance in the face of various complex challenges in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region.
The U.S. ambassador to Romania, Kathleen Kavalec, attended the opening of the EFTC and called the collaboration an "example of how the public and private sectors can cooperate to further our defense priorities."
She added that she was there at the opening of the new training center with one simple message, which was that the United States government would support it in any way it could. The development comes as Romania has been a member of NATO since 2004.
The country also shares a long border with Ukraine and since Russia's invasion of Kyiv in February 2022, the embattled European nation has repeatedly asked its backers to provide advanced fighter aircraft to assist in its fight against Moscow's continued aggression, according to the Associated Press.
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Helping Ukraine Against Russia
Romania has continued to increase its defense spending while the NATO military alliance strengthened its presence on Europe's eastern flank. The latter sent additional multinational battle groups to alliance members, including Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Slovakia.
The opening of the EFTC also comes after the country last week said that it was pushing to buy 54 units of the latest-model Abrams main battle tanks and related equipment from the United States. It was part of a deal that was worth at least a billion dollars and was made to help the European Union country meet regional security challenges.
The situation comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Nov. 7 that five Dutch F-16 fighter jets had arrived in his nation. In a post of X, formerly known as Twitter, Zelensky expressed his gratitude to the Netherlands and Prime Minister Mark Rutte for leading the way in supporting his war-torn nation.
The Dutch Defense Ministry also noted that the Netherlands will work to provide 12 to 18 F-16 fighter jets for training purposes. It added that the jets would remain Dutch property and would only be flown in NATO territory, said Yahoo News.
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