Romania on Thursday signed a contract for 32 F-35 stealth fighter jets in the United States, a historic military investment for this neighboring country of Ukraine which becomes the 20th member of an expanding circle of buyers.
Estimated at 6.5 billion dollars (6.1 billion euros) by the Romanian Parliament, this acquisition “will considerably strengthen our defense capabilities”, declared Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu during a ceremony in Bucharest.
“Unfortunately, the current geopolitical situation demonstrates the acute need for strong deterrents, both at the Atlantic alliance level and at the national level,” he added.
The Eastern European country, at the forefront of NATO since the launch of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, is stepping up its efforts to modernize its defense.
Present at his side, the Ambassador of the United States, Kathleen Kavalec, welcomed “an important step, which will contribute significantly (…) to our collective security”.
The US State Department approved the sale in September.
Romania separated in 2023 from its outdated Mig-21 LanceR fighter planes, inherited from the communist era. They were replaced by second-hand American F-16s, purchased from Portugal and Norway, awaiting the F-35s which are expected to enter service in the 2030s.
– “20th member” of the club –
After Poland, Finland and Germany in recent years, Romania “becomes the 20th member of the global F-35 alliance”, welcomed the American giant Lockheed Martin, manufacturer of the fighters, in a press release.
These are mainly NATO countries and Washington’s close allies in Asia – such as South Korea and Japan.
More than a thousand devices are in operation around the world, according to the group. France designed the Rafale to maintain strategic autonomy.
A so-called fifth-generation stealth aircraft, the F-35 is equipped with engines from the American Pratt and Whitney. It was notably used in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State group.
Seen from the start as an export product intended to ensure Washington’s domination of the combat aircraft market, the aircraft is presented as a technological and versatile marvel, but its development suffered from its complexity, notably for the design of computer programs and the integration of different systems.
Its excessively high operating costs also raise fears that they are not sustainable, according to its detractors.
With the purchase of these cutting-edge aircraft, Romania is “aligning itself with the rest of the world”, commented for AFP security expert Hari Bucur Marcu, a former air force colonel who contributed to the integration of Romanian forces into NATO in 2004.
It “shows that it is ready with other European countries to assume more responsibilities, in the event that the war spills over Ukraine’s borders.”
The country, which shares a 650 km border with its Ukrainian neighbor and bordered by the Black Sea, has repeatedly discovered debris from Russian drones on its territory and is now constantly on alert.
In this context, he is committed to modernizing his defense and says he wants to increase his budget to 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP). A goal that it failed to achieve last year (1.6% of GDP, according to NATO figures, below the required threshold of 2%).
With the help of allied countries, a regional training center for F-16 pilots has been set up, where Romanian but also Ukrainian soldiers train.
More than 5,000 NATO soldiers are also deployed on Romanian soil, the largest contingent of Atlantic Alliance forces on the south-eastern flank of Europe.
