Romania could become the latest customer for the US F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter. President Klaus Iohannis said this Wednesday (02) that the country is interested in acquiring Lockheed Martin's 5th Generation fighter jets.
The idea was unveiled by Iohannis as he spoke to Romanian Air Force service at an event at Campia Turzii air base. He said that recent tensions with Russia threatening to invade Ukraine showed that Romania cannot afford not to upgrade and develop its armed forces. Hence the interest in purchasing the F-35.
“The new types of aircraft equipped by the Air Force, mainly the F-16, allow for high-performance execution of all specific missions. The Air Force modernization process will not stop here, however, we intend to acquire state-of-the-art aircraft, the F-35”, said the president in his speech. Iohannis gave no further details about his desire to acquire the US stealth fighter.
“As far as we are concerned, Romania is determined to further develop and modernize its military capabilities in line with the commitments made to NATO. At the same time, we will continue to pay greater attention to increasing the operational capability of all military structures, both through national efforts and in a multinational context.
Currently, the Romanian Air Force has 17 F-16A/B Fighting Falcon fighters acquired from the Portuguese Air Force. In December, the Romanian Government stated its intention to buy 32 used F-16s from the Norwegian Air Force The country also has 16 Soviet-era MiG-21 Fishbed fighters. The MiGs were modernized by Israel's Elbit Systems to the LanceR standard.
According to the Hungarian news portal Portfolio, Romania decided in 2015 to increase its defense spending to 2% of GDP, and Romania's Supreme Defense Council (CSAT) approved in 2017 that the country would buy €9,8 billion worth of weapons and military equipment over the next decade .
According to the website, Romania is also acquiring Patriot anti-missile systems and HIMARS multiple rocket launchers. The initiative for increased defense investment came from President Iohannis.
According to Lockheed's latest update on the F-35, more than 760 units of the model have already been delivered. Nine countries have already declared initial operational capability and five have already deployed the F-35 on operational missions.
In total, 15 nations have already acquired the F-35 and two others (Finland and Switzerland) have already selected it as their new fighter. Depending on how the negotiations go, Romania could become another stealth fighter customer.
