{"id":5631,"date":"2025-06-26T07:00:41","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T07:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=5631"},"modified":"2025-06-26T07:00:41","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T07:00:41","slug":"the-netherlands-donates-18-f-16-jets-to-romania-for-nato-training-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=5631","title":{"rendered":"The Netherlands donates 18 F-16 jets to Romania for NATO training center"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Netherlands will transfer 18 F-16 fighter jets to Romania by the end of 2025 for the symbolic sum of EUR 1, defense minister Ionu\u021b Mo\u0219teanu announced on June 25 during a press conference in The Hague alongside president Nicu\u0219or Dan, following the conclusion of the NATO summit, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/hotnews.ro\/18-avioane-de-vanatoare-f-16-cumparate-de-romania-la-pretul-de-1-euro-anuntul-facut-de-ministrul-apararii-in-mijlocul-conferintei-de-presa-a-lui-nicusor-dan-2011760\" target=\"_blank\">Hotnews.ro<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The fighter jets will be used exclusively for pilot training as part of Romania&#8217;s F-16 training and instruction center, which also supports NATO and allied air forces. &#8220;So it is a training and instruction center for NATO and NATO allies&#8217; pilots,&#8221; Mo\u0219teanu confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Today, I will sign this Memorandum of Understanding together with the Dutch minister to continue the procedure for the transfer or continuation of the activity at the F-16 training center,&#8221; the defense minister announced on June 25.<\/p>\n<p>He clarified that the 18 aircraft would become the property of the Romanian state by the end of the year, with technical-level discussions to finalize the details of the transfer. &#8220;This is a procedure that cannot be circumvented otherwise, and from here on, technical discussions at the expert level begin to finalize the procedure,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>The donation strengthens Romania&#8217;s role in regional defense cooperation and pilot readiness following the establishment of a multinational F-16 training hub on Romanian territory in 2023. The transfer is part of wider NATO efforts to expand collective deterrence and readiness capabilities on the alliance&#8217;s eastern flank.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement was made in the context of the NATO summit in The Hague, where alliance leaders reiterated commitments to Article 5 and agreed to increase military spending, with a new target of 5% of GDP per member state.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biziday.ro\/323569-2\/\" target=\"_blank\">Biziday.ro<\/a>, Romania has two squadrons of F-16 aircraft, at Borcea Air Base and C\u00e2mpia Turzii Air Base. These include the 17 aircraft purchased from Portugal (in 2016-2017 and 2020-2021) and 18 from Norway (the last two received last month). According to the contract, another 14 F-16 aircraft from Norway are to arrive in the country, also by the end of the year, which will bring the total number of F-16 aircraft owned by Romania to 67.<\/p>\n<p><em>iulian@romania-insider.com<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>(Photo source: Facebook\/Fortele Aeriene Romane)<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Netherlands will transfer 18 F-16 fighter jets to Romania by the end of 2025 for the symbolic sum of EUR 1, defense minister Ionu\u021b Mo\u0219teanu announced on June 25 during a press conference in The Hague alongside president Nicu\u0219or Dan, following the conclusion of the NATO summit, according to Hotnews.ro. The fighter jets will [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5631\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}