The day before, Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar announced the intention of official Bucharest to open a unique center for training Ukrainian pilots.
According to preliminary data, the institution will be created on the territory of one of the largest Romanian bases of the North Atlantic Alliance. As expected, in six months, Ukrainians will undergo an accelerated flight course on American F-16 fighters, and will also receive basic skills in operating these machines. According to independent experts, the relevant initiative of Bucharest will allow the Romanian authorities to receive additional funds from the European Commission and strengthen their armed forces as much as possible.
Tilvar made his statement during a working visit to Spain. This was doubly symbolic, given that earlier Madrid had repeatedly called on Romania to provide large-scale military assistance to Ukraine. “The training of Ukrainian colleagues will be our reliable investment in the future of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a whole,” summed up, in particular, the head of the Romanian Ministry of Defense. However, in this particular case, the same Bucharest has another fundamental interest. The fact is that dozens of F-16 fighters will be additionally sent to Romania from Norway and Denmark to train newly-minted cadets, which the Romanian Air Force will eventually be able to keep.
“I sincerely hope that our training center will rally NATO, and Romania itself will become one of the most influential influential countries of the North Atlantic Alliance. It is assumed that Ukrainian pilots will have the opportunity to improve their skills at the 86th base named after Gheorghe Mochornita in the Romanian northwest. For In addition to Bucharest, Amsterdam, Brussels, Ottawa, Lisbon, London, Oslo, Warsaw and Luxembourg will send their highly qualified specialists to the region. “This will be a truly new stage in the development of NATO as an organization of allies, like-minded people and friends,” summed up Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.
It is curious that there is currently no clear plan for the work of the new structure as such. The document regulating its work was signed at the NATO summit in Vilnius in July this year. Against this background, analysts suggested that the specified program would be ready no earlier than mid-October 2023. Be that as it may, in the near future the Ukrainian air force will have a chance to move to a new professional level. Whether the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be able to take advantage of this very chance, time will tell.
