Flying Romanian airspace, over the cold Black Sea
Spain's "Guardian" detachment has completed its air policing mission in Romania
Agenția Media a Armatei, 09.04.2025, 14:00
The “Guardian” detachment of the Spanish Air Forces from the 57th “Captain Aviator Constantin Cantacuzino” air base in (southeast) has completed its enhanced air policing mission in Romania. The mission included two four-month rotations, the first with F18 aircraft, the second with Eurofighter. In the last four months, six such aircraft from the Los Llanos air base, near the Spanish city of Albacete, have been stationed here. They are 3rd generation state-of-the-art Spanish Eurofighter aircraft, and for several months they have patrolling Romanian airspace, trading Spain’s sunny skies for the snow and cold of the Black Sea coast.
Major Alejandro Lobato is one of the pilots who completed his first tour in Romania. “This is my first deployment abroad for an enhanced air police mission. It is different to fly Romania’s skies, the landscape is different from what we were used to in Spain. For example, it snowed a few weeks ago, and the landscape was covered in snow as we saw it from the cockpit. We are not used to flying in such a cold environment and climate, but also over a rough and cold sea like the Black Sea. During our missions, for extra safety, we have to wear an additional thermal protection suit in case we have to eject from the cockpit and end up landing in the sea. I would say that these are the main differences when you fly the skies of Romania and not Spain”, our interlocutor says.
A seasoned Eurofighter pilot, Major Alejandro Lobato, born in Zamora, the capital of the province bearing the same name on the border with Portugal, told us he felt at home during his Romanian “adventure”:
“I stayed in Romania for nearly four months and to sum up, I can say that for me it was a great adventure, in the positive sense. My colleagues and I, and this is something we have always discussed among ourselves, felt welcome, right from the start, we felt the warmth of the Romanian people, we experienced Romanian culture and cuisine, we had the opportunity to travel around the country, some more, others less, but I can truly say that the opinion of the Spanish military from the entire detachment about the mission in Romania is a very good one, for them it was a beautiful adventure”, the Spanish told us.
The last Spanish rotation was a successful one, with over 850 flight hours in over 400 sorties, mainly training missions with Romanian and NATO Air Forces and less “Alpha Scramble” missions, i.e. real-life interception missions, so from this point of view, we can say it was a “quiet” rotation compared to the first. But beyond the missions and aircraft are the people, the soldiers, the pilots. Major Alejandro Lobato left a baby at home for a few months when leaving for Romania. We asked him if this was hard for him:
“Yes, it was hard, especially since I spent Christmas for the first time away from my family, my baby was only a few months old, it wasn’t easy to leave my family at home. But we must be grateful, because we were needed here and we are happy to contribute to the security of the European Union, of Romania of course and of NATO member states. I want to thank all the Romanians for the warm welcome and for the way they have interacted with us in the last four months. I hope to return to Romania soon. Thank you!” Major Alejandro Lobato concluded.
Starting April, enhanced air police missions have been carried out at the 57th air base by a detachment of the Italian Air Forces, also onboard Eurofighter aircraft, so we may very well say “Adios y gracias España! Benvenuti agli italiani!” (VP)
