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The last three warplanes of the F-16 squadron were received on Friday at the Air Base 86 in southeastern Borcea, in a ceremony attended by Air Force Chief of Staff Laurian Anastasof, Secretary of State Mircea Dusa and his Portuguese counterpart, Marcos Perestrello. "Technologically, switching from generation 3 to generation 4 is bringing Romania into the club of countries with credible capability and arrives with a perspective to be able to make the transition to the generation 5 of fighter jets." For the Romanian Air Force it has been an important and obligatory step, with the recent technological innovations having led to rapid developments and changes in the air defense system," Lieutenant General Laurian Anastasof said on Friday.
He also said that it is important for this air platform to be exploited to its maximum capacity, the F-16 being a highly technological weapon system, interconnected to all communication, command / control systems in the national air defense system and NATO. "The bringing of F-16 warplanes in Romania represents the transition stage for the introduction of the generation 5 aircraft in the service of the Romanian Air Force and the modernization of the Romanian combat aviation. At the level of the Ministry of Defense, a complex process of analysis is underway, and its findings will allow us to identify the optimal way to complete the transition stage," State Secretary Mircea Dusa said.
After the completion of the ceremony occasioned by the reception of F-16s, a demonstrative flight by these planes took place at the Air Base 63. The first six aircraft in the squadron of 12 multi-role warplanes included in the Romanian-Portuguese agreement were received by the Romanian Air Force on September 29, 2016 and the next three on December 16, 2016.
