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A letter of intent to establish a European F-16 fighter aircraft training facility in Romania has been signed by the Netherlands, Romania, and US business partner Lockheed Martin. This could result in Ukraine pilots receiving training at the facility.
The center, which is situated at Romania's 86th "Lieutenant Aviator Gheorghe Mociorniță" Air Base in Borcea, Călărași County, will initially "focus" on the training of Romanian F-16 aviators, according to a business statement from Lockheed Martin, but other nations are anticipated to get involved later.
After concluding an agreement with Oslo in 2022, Romania, which presently has a fleet of 17 F-16 fighters, will also acquire an additional 32 aircraft that were formerly part of the Royal Norwegian Air Force.
The letter of intent follows the Biden administration's approval of the re-export of fourth-generation jets to Ukraine, which was swiftly followed by commitments of up to 61 aircraft from The Netherlands and Denmark to Kiev. However, it is unclear when the planes might be used in combat operations against Russia.
At the Vilnius Summit of the alliance in July 2023, NATO members first decided that Romania would host an F-16 "regional hub" before those developments.
According to a translated statement released on Tuesday by the Netherlands MoD, which oversees European F-16 capabilities efforts for Ukraine, "The intention is to train Ukrainian pilots and technical personnel as well as pilots and their teams from NATO countries who transfer to the US aircraft." The statement said that "first training sessions have already started" in the United Kingdom and Denmark but did not specify when Ukraine pilot training will commence in Romania.
Currently, 25 countries are using more than 3100 F-16s, according to Lockheed Martin statistics.
Source:
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