NATO expands its Romania Black Sea air base
With the decision to expand NATO’s military base near the strategic Black Sea port of Constanta, Romania will have stronger security guarantees, a representative of the Romanian Defence Ministry told Euractiv on Tuesday (19 March).
As the press in Romania reported, NATO is strengthening its eastern flank by expanding its military base in Constanta in the context of the war in Ukraine, only a short distance from the Ukrainian section of the Black Sea.
Work has already begun at the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base, with the new military complex expected to cover an area of 2800 hectares. Around ten thousand NATO soldiers and their families will be able to live there permanently.
The project will be built at the cost of €2.5 billion for the Romanian state and will resemble a town, with schools and hospitals. The base will become fully operational in 2040.
Commander Nicolae Crețu of the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base told the Romanian state broadcaster that a new runway, connections between the two existing runways, taxiways for aircraft and anti-aircraft protection systems will be built.
Reportedly, work has already started with the construction of access roads and electrical networks.
Dorin Popescu, a geopolitical expert, commented on Television Romania that the NATO military base in Mihail Kogălniceanu will become “the most important permanent NATO military structure in the immediate vicinity of the conflict in Ukraine”.
According to him, the expansion of the NATO base in Constanta increases the level of security on the Eastern Flank, but also in the Black Sea area. Romania has a maritime space of 30 thousand square kilometres in the Black Sea.
Colonel Corneliu Pavel, head of the press office of the Romanian Ministry of National Defence, told Euractiv that with the development of this base, Romania will have even more solid security guarantees in the allied context.
“Romania has demonstrated in recent years that it is also a security provider for NATO allies. Changes in the Black Sea security architecture have been visible”, Pavel said, referring to the situation since Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.
“It is an area plagued by conflicts generated by the Russian Federation. The security situation is very volatile. Sea mines have drifted and can drift at any time. So far, 97 sea mines have been destroyed and the Romanian Naval Forces have destroyed 5”, the official said.
Romania has been a member of NATO for 20 years and since the war started in Ukraine, it has strengthened its defence and deterrence posture. Last November, the European Pilot Training Centre for F-16s was inaugurated in Romania, at the 86th Air Base in Fetești.
Romania is contributing the air base and training facilities, while the Royal Netherlands Air Force is contributing F-16 aircraft. The trainees are Romanian military former MIG-21 Lancer pilots and the instructors are former F-16 pilots.
The training centre in Romania also trains soldiers from other NATO countries and Ukraine.
Currently, more than 5,000 soldiers from NATO countries such as France, Poland, Spain, and the USA are deployed in Romania.
Read more with Euractiv
