The Romanian Air Force, as reported by the Infodefensaportal, citing the country’s Ministry of Defense, does not have F-16C aircraft at all, as it uses F-16s of A/B modifications.
The Romanian Ministry of Defense denied the information that an F-16C fighter jet of the Romanian Air Force had struck at the facilities of the Russian occupiers in the Kherson region. This is reported by the Infodefensa portal.
Russian propagandists made statements on their public pages about the attack on the night of Saturday, January 27, 2024. It was then that a warplane allegedly took off from the 86th air base, which is allegedly located in the city of Constanta. At 3.22 am, they claimed, a strike was launched against the Russian occupation forces.
The Russians did not elaborate on what kind of weapons were allegedly used by this aircraft, or how this fighter was able to break through Russian air defense.
To clarify the situation, the Romanian defense ministry needed only three simple arguments to refute the Russians’ lies.
- The 86th air base of the Romanian Air Force is located not in Constanta, but near the city of Borca;
- The second is that the Romanian Air Force does not have any F-16C aircraft at all, they use F-16s of A/B modifications, modernized to MLU 5.2 and MLU 6.5 standards;
- During the period claimed by the Russians, the Romanian Air Force’s F-16s did not fly at all.
The ministry’s statement emphasizes that since the beginning of the Russian Federation’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, Romania, as part of the North Atlantic Alliance, has acted through measures to strengthen defense and deterrence, purely defensive in nature. Threats were assessed in terms of regional security.
As reported on January 29, the Ukrainian Air Force said that Ukraine is still waiting for the delivery of Western modern F-16 fighter jets, which are supposed to be a major security enhancement for the country. The Ukrainian Armed Forces believe that this type of combat aircraft will provide significant assistance to Ukraine in various aspects. This includes intercepting cruise missiles and drones, as well as controlling airspace and supporting ground troops.
