Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said on Wednesday, at the air base in Câmpia Turzii, that, in the process of modernizing the Air Force, Romania is considering the purchase of F-35 “state-of-the-art” aircraft.
“As far as we are concerned, Romania is determined to further develop and modernize its military capabilities, in accordance with the commitments made within the North Atlantic Alliance. At the same time, we will continue to pay more attention to increasing the operational capacity of all military structures, both through national efforts and in a multinational context. The continuation of Romania’s strategic efforts to guarantee the territorial integrity and security of its citizens, as well as to provide support to allied and partner states, in accordance with its international commitments, is a priority of our country’s foreign and security policy. At the same time, increasing resilience, both at the level of military structures and at the level of public institutions and society as a whole, is a main direction of action subsumed by the implementation of the National Strategy for National Defense (…)
The new types of aircraft fitted to the Army, especially F-16 aircraft, allow all specific missions to be carried out with high efficiency. The process of modernizing the Air Force will not stop here, however, we intend to purchase state-of-the-art aircraft, F-35,” said President Klaus Iohannis.
The Romanian head of state argued that the risks to Romania’s security have increased and “we must be very well prepared to counter the aggressive actions”.
“We are going through an extremely tense period, when risks to the security of the region, including Romania, have increased.(…) There are obvious tendencies to return to the policy of force and to challenge the current liberal international order, as well as the European security architecture, built after the Cold War,” said Iohannis.