Status: 03/03/2022 12:24 p.m
Germany is strengthening NATO’s eastern flank and has sent three more Eurofighter fighter jets to Romania. Defense Minister Lambrecht visited the German soldiers there.
When a Eurofighter takes off from Constanta, it reaches the Ukrainian border in just 15 minutes. It is 100 kilometers away. The Bundeswehr has now stationed six machines at the airport in the Romanian port city on the Black Sea, plus eight Eurofighters from Italy.
Their mission: control NATO airspace, especially the border region. 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Mission: Intercept unidentified aircraft
So far, they haven’t come close to Russian planes, says one of the pilots, whom we’re supposed to call “Bigfoot.” For security reasons, he does not want to give his real name.
In the area of Romania where we have our flight activities and secure NATO airspace, we are about 400 kilometers from Crimea. Of course there are flight movements from time to time. Here in Romania, the situation is actually calm at the moment.
It’s about so-called “air policing”, airspace surveillance. Two Eurofighters always take off together in the sky. The pilots should ensure that no aircraft enters NATO airspace that cannot be identified. If that happens, the Eurofighters approach the foreign machine, escort it out of the airspace or get it to land.
Lambrecht: Putin “brutal dictator”
During her visit to Constanta, Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht spoke of an important mission. And praises the 75 German soldiers currently assigned to the mission:
They are excellently trained for this assignment, they are highly qualified. And now they are also required to fulfill their oath here at the NATO border and fly the flag together with the allies. Here they secure the common freedom in Europe.
A freedom that, according to the minister, is under threat from Russian President Putin, whom Lambrecht calls a “brutal dictator.” However, Putin did not expect the unity with which NATO is currently acting:
In his great power mania, which he lives out with a brutal war of aggression against Ukraine and accepting that so many people experience suffering, are exposed to violence or have to leave their homeland.
special mission
The war in Ukraine makes this NATO deployment of the Bundeswehr in Romania a special mission. Lieutenant Colonel “Bigfoot” also admits this. The 37-year-old is an experienced Eurofighter pilot and has been flying the fighter jet for twelve years, but now a “good connection home” is necessary, as he puts it.
There are of course many fears on the part of family and friends, which of course you have to try to clarify by saying that you are not in a war zone ad hoc.
Use may be expanded
It is planned that the Eurofighter fleet on the Black Sea coast will soon be reassembled. The Italians are to withdraw, but the British are sending their fighter jets. The question will then be how many machines Great Britain will come with and whether the Bundeswehr will still be needed.
In any case, Minister Lambrecht is sticking to the mission. During her visit, she promises that it could be extended – beyond March – or even increased. And that’s not all: Germany is also strengthening NATO’s eastern flank in Lithuania, and the number of soldiers there has been increased to 900. And the Bundeswehr is also sending forces to Slovakia.
More Eurofighters in Romania
Oliver Neuroth, ARD Berlin, March 3, 2022 11:23 a.m