The Romanian NATO base is becoming the largest in Europe, hosting troops from 32 countries
The Mihai Kogelnican Air Force Base in Romania is quickly becoming a key strategic NATO facility, surpassing even the Ramstein base in Germany. The MK base will soon host a squadron of Romanian F-16s and MQ-9 Reaper drones.
About this write BBC.
“There is a much larger US presence here, much more infrastructure, housing, people and equipment“, US Air Force pilot Charlie Tugga emphasized.
A special feature of the base will be its role as an international military town, where servicemen from 32 NATO member countries will rotate. “
“They’ll just fly past – it’s not against any international law, they have the right to do that. But we’ll put our plane next to the enemy’s plane. From a posturing point of view, it shows the Russians that we’re active. We’re flying armed planes, so that sends clear signal. And it also gives us valuable intelligence, we record the serial numbers of the planes and the weapons that those planes are carrying, so that’s part of the overall intelligence picture as well.”, – added the soldier.
He noted that Russia’s war in Ukraine has changed both the areas over which the pilot flies and the strategic position of the mission. In 2021, during his last tour, NATO fighter pilots flew far above international waters in the Black Sea. However, now they observe a 12-mile zone over Romanian and Bulgarian territorial waters “to avoid misunderstandings, escalation of the situation with the Russians.”
American pilot Charlie Tugga emphasized the change in the strategic position of the mission after the start of the war. Currently, NATO pilots are focused on patrolling the territorial waters of Romania and Bulgaria, demonstrating readiness to protect allies.
Although there were no direct encounters with Russian aircraft, pilot Tagg spoke of the importance of a show of force and intelligence gathering during previous missions.
