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Romania’s Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base is set to become the largest NATO base in Europe.
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The $2.7 billion expansion will allow the base to support 10,000 NATO personnel and their families.
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It comes like Poutine pledged to go “to the end” in the war in Ukraine.
An air base located just about 20 km from the Black Sea coast and 180 miles from the war-torn city of Odessa in southern Ukraine is set to become the largest base in NATO in Europe.
A $2.7 billion project to transform Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base in Romania began earlier this year.
The basis, which was used by the US military since 1999is poised to become the size of a small city, with the capacity to accommodate 10,000 NATO personnel and their families, Euro Romania News Previously reported.
Nicolae Crețu, the air base commander, told the media outlet that the expanded facility would require “maintenance hangars, fuel reserves, ammunition, equipment, aviation technical equipment, simulators, power facilities , accommodation”.
“Whatever is necessary to support the operation and missions of a base of this size,” he said.
A fleet of Romanian F-16 fighter jets recently purchased from Norway, as well as MQ-9 Reaper drones, will also arrive at the base soon, the ministry said. BBC reported.
NATO announcement Earlier this month, seven Finnish Air Force F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets landed at the base on June 3 to conduct “training and live sorties along the eastern flank of the Black Sea coast.
“For two months, the Finnish aircraft will join a Royal Air Force Typhoon detachment and carry out a rapid reaction alert mission and fly alongside them and the Romanian F-16s to collectively secure NATO airspace and reassure the Romanian population,” said Lieutenant Cl Rami Lindström, the first commander of the Finnish detachment of the base.
“Our goal here in Romania is to strengthen our integration into NATO air power by perfecting and deepening our cooperation with the Royal Air Force and the Romanian Air Force,” he added.
The US presence at the base is also increasing, Royal Air Force pilot Flt Lt Charlie Tagg told the BBC, adding that there was “a lot more infrastructure, accommodation, people and facilities.” ‘equipment’.
Geopolitical analyst Dorin Popescu previously told Euronews: “The Mihail Kogălniceanu base will become NATO’s most important permanent military structure in the immediate vicinity of the conflict in southern Ukraine.”
“Let’s not imagine that this conflict ends this year in 2025 or 2026,” he said. “This is a long-term conflict.”
However, Russian politicians have issued stern warnings about the project, with Andrei Klimov, deputy chairman of the Federation Council’s foreign affairs committee, previously warning that it was a “threat” for Bucharest.
“If the Romanians like it, that’s their business, of course, but the NATO suicide club drags ordinary civilians into such adventures which can end very badly for their families and children,” he said. he declares.
Russian President Vladimir Putin justified his full-scale invasion of Ukraine by saying NATO had moved aggressively closer to Russia in recent decades, and he has long warned against further expansion.
Despite its rhetoric, NATO has continued to expand further east, with Finland joining NATO in April 2023 and Sweden in March 2024.
Nevertheless, Putin this week reiterated his threats against the West, promising to go “to the end” in the war with Ukraine.
Defeat in Ukraine, Putin said, would mean “the end of the 1,000-year history of the Russian state. I think this is clear to everyone… Isn’t it better to go all the way , until the end ?” he said.
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