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U.S. Air Force airmen prepare to launch F-16C Fighting Falcons at Campia Turzii, Romania, in 2019, in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve. The Air Force has plans to spend $152 million on upgrades to the base, including a ”dangerous cargo pad” to support aircraft with up to 30,000 pounds in explosives. (Andrew Layton/U.S. Air Force)

US Air Force gets $152 million in upgrades underway at base in Romania

Jennifer H. Svan – Stars and Stripes May 17, 2021

Major improvements to a Romanian base are set to begin this summer as the U.S. Air Force looks to boost its presence and support larger NATO missions in the strategically important Black Sea region.

The $152 million in construction projects will enable Campia Turzii air base to support heavy cargo aircraft, host fighter jets and deployed personnel, and quickly respond to any security issues in the region, the Air Force said. The upgrades will also allow the former Soviet airfield to safely receive and store munitions.

The Cold War-era base in central Romania is expected to serve as a rotational hub in the future.

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US deploys F-15 fighters closer to Russian borders

RT – Dec 16, 2021

Washington has sent fighter jets to Romania to patrol the skies near Russia’s borders as part of a NATO mission designed to deter Moscow in the Black Sea region and around Ukraine.

F-15E Strike Eagles from the 336th Fighter Squadron landed at the Campia Turzii airfield in central Romania on Wednesday. They will patrol the skies, taking off from an air base near the country’s Black Sea coast along with Romanian warplanes and Italian Eurofighter Typhoons, NATO said.

The arrival of American planes contributes to the Western military bloc’s “deterrence in the region,” Brigadier General Joel Carey, the Allied Air Command deputy chief of staff operations, said. “The ability to rapidly deploy Allied air assets in support of NATO is vital to our readiness and demonstrates the force’s agility.”

In 2014, NATO boosted surveillance flights and air patrols near Russia’s western borders, as part of what the bloc calls ‘enhanced air policing’.

NATO and Russia closely track each other’s military flights, and have accused each other of dangerous maneuvering in the skies. Russia’s state civil aviation agency said this month that a Russian passenger airliner traveling above the Black Sea was forced to suddenly change altitude due to a NATO spy plane that was flying nearby.

Tensions between Russia and NATO have been running high in recent weeks, as Western officials and media claim that Moscow is amassing troops and military hardware with the possible intent to invade Ukraine. During a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that “any further aggression against Ukraine will have severe consequences.”

Russia has repeatedly denied claims it is planning to attack its neighbor. President Vladimir Putin said Moscow seeks assurances that NATO will not move its military infrastructure closer to Russia’s borders.

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