Romania to acquire additional F-16s

Five more F-16s will complete Romanian Air Force squadron, and talks with Portuguese and American partners on this topic are very advanced, says Romanian National Defense Minister Gabriel Leş.

He also stated, for Radio Romania News (RRA), that procedures for acquiring 36 more F-16 jet fighters have been started, and next step would be the state-of-the-art F-35 multipurpose aircraft.

National Defense Minister Gabriel Leş: We are going further to see what our strategic partner's solution will be towards the 36 fighter jets we want to buy, and then see what the F-35 program means. Information was also provided by the United States. We are now in the first phase for acquisition of F-35s. That's what the future of the Romanian Air Force should be. It is important to think first about operationalizing the F-16 squadron - and I refer to the 12 we have, the five more to complete the squadron and the next 36 - and then of course to think of the F-35 Stealth multirole fighter, the most technologically advanced combat aircraft.

RRA Producer: With regard to endowment program for the supply of attack and transport helicopters, Minister Gabriel Leş said that he is expecting replies to the requests that have already been sent to companies to start the procurement procedures, according to RRA Reporter Cătălin Purcaru.

Source:RRA.Translated by Miruna Matei