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https://www.actmedia.eu/daily/defmin-le ... mand/80003DefMin Les: F16 Squadron to be operational on Thursday for Air Police, under national command
The F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft within the 53 Squadron, 86th Fetesti Air Base will start
on Thursday the air policing missions under national commend.
"On Thursday, 14 March, the F-16 National Air Police Service will be operational.
So far, we conducted this service with MIG aircraft,
if we are to talk about the Romanian Air Forces,"
National Defence Minister Gabriel Les told AGERPRES in an interview.
The Minister mentioned that making F-16 Squadron operational
will be done, for now, under national commend.
"For now, we will make this squadron operational for Air Police under national command,
and in the following months it will be conducted under NATO command," Gabriel Les stated.
Last Monday, National Defence Minister Les announced that
F-16 fighting aircraft of the Romanian Army's endowment
will conduct in March the Police Air Service (SLPA) under national command.
According to the Minister, the F-16 aircraft will be able to conduct the SLPA under NATO command,
after the squadron will complete the certification process specific to the organization.
...and earlier:
https://www.janes.com/article/87199/rom ... onal-f-16s
https://www.janes.com/article/87199/rom ... onal-f-16sRomania to buy additional F-16s
Romania has launched the procedure for the acquisition of an additional 36 F-16 fighters
to replace its obsolete MiG-21 Lancer fleet,
Defence Minister Gabriel Leş told national television station TVR 1 on 6 March 2019.
Leş spoke of “a further 36 F-16 airplanes that we have to buy so
that we have some functional and capable squadrons to replace the old MIGs”.
He expressed the intention of acquiring new-build aircraft but also
mentioned the possibility of second-hand jets that would be upgraded by the Romanian defence industry.
The Forţele Aeriene Romane (Romanian Air Force, RoAF)
already operates 12 F-16 Block 15 Mid-Life Upgrade (MLU) fighters – nine single-seat F-16AMs and three twin-seat F-16BMs –
acquired second hand from Portugal.
The refurbished aircraft joined the 53rd Fighter Squadron at Feteşti in 2016–17
as part of a process that finally launched the long-postponed modernisation
of the RoAF’s supersonic component consisting of Soviet-era MiG-21s upgraded by Elbit and Aerostar.