The old Mig-21s leaving the Romanian army on Monday will be replaced by more modern American F-16s. kyiv “did not show interest,” said the country bordering Ukraine.
By Le Figaro with AFP
Posted update
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There Romania said goodbye this Monday, May 15 to its Mig-21 LanceR fighter jets, inherited from the communist era, which are replaced by more modern American F-16s in a context of reinforcement of the eastern flank of NATO.
On the front line since the launch of theRussian offensive in neighboring UkraineBucharest has redoubled its efforts in recent months to modernize its defence.
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“It was time”
Romania will now use 17 second-hand F-16s purchased in Portugal. It also signed a contract with Norway in November for 32 planes. A member of NATO since 2004, it covets the latest generation of American F-35 fighters, but it will probably take years for this expensive project to become a reality.
“It was time for us to move on to something better, more in tune with global realities“, pilot Adrian Trifa, 37, told AFP before taking off from the base of Borcea (South-East) for his last flight, during one of the ceremonies organized Monday by the Minister of Defense. For this soldier who has 750 flight hours on the clock, it’s a page that turns. Especially since he will not be trained on the F-16s: “I am too oldhe says. Apprenticeship is reserved for people under 35 years old.
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The exact number of MiG-21 LanceR fighters Romania has is confidential. Unofficial estimates put it at 25. In communist times, it had about 400. The flight of these antiquated aircraft was temporarily suspended last year after “a considerable number of accidentsand technical issues. They then resumed service for surveillance and pilot training missions. Thirty Mig-21s were destroyed in incidents between 1991 and 2022, according to the Ministry of Defense.
They should have been withdrawn a long time ago but the decision was delayed for lack of money, believes Stefan Danila, a retired general. “Ukraine showed no interest“, He specifies, stressing that the combat capacity of the fighter planes which remained is limited.