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The F-16 program remains an essential one for the Romanian army, which is assumed by the Romanian Government, in partnership with the Portuguese Government and the United States Government, the Minister of National Defense, Nicolae Ciuca, declared on Saturday after meeting with his Portuguese counterpart, Joao Titterington Gomes Cravinho, on an official visit to Romania.
"I take this opportunity to thank once again Mister Minister for the involvement of the Portuguese Air Force in the entire program that our army has carried out to achieve this capability and I would like to note the openness, availability, professionalism and dedication with which the Portuguese pilots and air force technicians have gotten involved in the F16 Romanian Air Force Program. The F-16 program remains an essential one for the Romanian army and I would like to emphasize that it is a program assumed by the Romanian Government, in partnership with the Government of Portugal and the Government of the United States," Minister Ciuca specified.
According to the Minister of Defense, Romania will remain firmly committed to all the initiatives and efforts to ensure the 360-degree approach to deterrence and security, at the Allied and EU levels.
"As we have discussed at the bilateral meeting, our country will remain firmly committed to all initiatives and efforts to ensure the 360-degree approach to deterrence and security, at the Allied and EU levels, and I am convinced that together, even if Portugal is on one side of Europe and Romania on the other, we have found and will continue to find common lines of interest, availability to effort. And in this way we can show that there is a desire to contribute together to everything that the security effort at the level of the North Atlantic Alliance and the EU means, and especially to the effort that each of our armies makes to give the citizens the confidence that we are able and we have the necessary training to ensure our countries' security and safety," Ciuca underlined.
He added that one of the main topics addressed during the talks with his Portuguese counterpart was the signing of a protocol between the Romanian Air Force and Aerostar Bacau regarding the modernization of the F-16 aircraft.
"We will modernize all F-16 aircraft. And because we aimed at materializing the investment in defense in the national defense industry, as well, I would like to mention that this program will continue and end with a stage in which we will modernize all F16 aircraft. This will be carried out through the transfer of technology and know-how, to Aerostar Bacau, something that will mean a very important element in the future process of operation and maintenance of F-16 aircraft. In this regard, a protocol was signed by the Romanian Air Force and AEROSTAR that will involve all the industrial cooperation projects. This was one of the main topics I addressed with my Portuguese counterpart," said the Minister of Defense.
Other topics that were addressed in the bilateral talks focused on the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, security in the Black Sea region, defense and deterrence measures on the eastern flank or the initiation of steps regarding the expansion of bilateral decision-making, including in the field of defense industry.
"We had discussions that also referred to the pandemic situation we have been going through for several months now, and we also shared the experience and the way in which the Romanian Army - especially the lines of military medicine - got involved in support of central and local authorities. We have also discussed the security situation at the level of the Black Sea region, the security situation in a 360-degree approach at the level of NATO and the EU. Topics that could constitute bilateral or multilateral cooperation programs both within the EU and at the Allied level were also addressed. Portugal is committed to participating in our country's initiatives to strengthen defense and deterrence on the eastern flank. Thus, we have Portuguese soldiers at the NATO Force Integration Units, at the Multinational Brigade (...). It was also discussed the initiation of steps regarding the extension of the bilateral decision-making, including in the field of the defense industry. In this sense, too, we agreed that, in the next period, we should have an agenda at the level of the specialized structures," Nicolae Ciuca detailed.
The program of the Portuguese delegation's visit included official discussions at the Ministry of National Defense headquarters, during which the two defense ministers addressed issues related to the state of Bilateral Defence Cooperation, with emphasis on issues related to the implementation of the procurement contract of the F-16 aircraft from the Portuguese side, cooperation in NATO and EU format, in the current security context, with emphasis on the allied deterrence and defense posture, as well as on cooperation within the projects of Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) initiative.
