Romania. The Eastern Flank
The Ministry of National Defense hosted a meeting between the new head of the National Guard of the State of Alabama, Brigadier General David Prichett, and the Romanian Defense Minister, Angel Tîlvăr.
Lăcrămioara Simion, 13.03.2024, 15:33
The headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense hosted a meeting between the new head of the National Guard of the State of Alabama, Brigadier General David Prichett, and the Romanian Defense Minister, Angel Tîlvăr. The agenda of the meeting included discussions on security in the Black Sea region in the context of the Russian Federation’s war of aggression in Ukraine. During the meeting, aspects related to the Romanian-American cooperation in the field of defense were also addressed, through the lens of the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the USA and the State Partnership Program with the Alabama National Guard, launched more than three decades ago.
The agenda of the American delegation’s visit to Romania also included the 57th Air Base in Mihail Kogălniceanu (southeast Romania). The commander of the air base, Commandant Nicolae Crețu, presented the main short, medium and long-term objectives, detailing the areas of responsibility and highlighted the extremely active and important role played by the partnership with the National Guard of the State of Alabama, in the creation, operationalization and maintaining the base capabilities. Those present at the event learned about the role of the 57th Air Base in the current security context, the challenges encountered in integrating plans and operations with the detachments belonging to the allied states deployed at the base and the accelerated way in which the capacity to host allied forces is being developed in order to strengthen the eastern flank and consolidate the deterrence posture.
The American delegation also visited the Multinational Corps Southeast Command in Sibiu (center). The commander of this structure, Major General Cristian Dan, gave the American guests an overview of the mission, objectives and current challenges of the Corps, also highlighting the areas of collaboration, as an essential objective for achieving collective security. General David Prichett assured the representatives of the Multinational Corps of the support of the Alabama National Guard in the planned training activities.
We continue with information from the 86th Air Base in Fetești (south-east), where the Romanian and Turkish Air Forces, located in our country for the joint missions of reinforced air policing carried out a demonstration exercise. According to the scenario, the F-16 planes intercepted a foreign aircraft that had entered the Romanian airspace and had lost communication links. In the Fetești Air Base there was also a detachment of the French Air Force, consisting of 40 soldiers and three Rafale aircraft, one of which was also used in the joint training exercise with the Romanian and Turkish pilots.
The joint reinforced air policing missions under NATO command contribute to increasing the allied capacity for rapid reaction and deterrence, and the presence of French pilots in our country is part of the new NATO concept of rapid deployment of forces.
The last piece of news in today’s program comes from Sibiu, where the Association of Reserve Officers from Romania, with the support of the Defense General Staff, organized, at the headquarters of the “Nicolae Bălcescu” Land Forces Academy, the International Seminar for young reserve officers from NATO and partner countries. The meeting was attended by reserve officers from Romania, respectively from Austria, Canada, Switzerland, Georgia and the Netherlands. The presentations were made by the members of the committee for reserve officers, representatives of the “Nicolae Bălcescu” Land Forces Academy, as well as of the Multinational Corps Southeast Command. The topic of the seminar was aimed at knowing the particularities of NATO, how to plan operations, the general process of crisis management and the analysis of the geostrategic situation. (Andra Barbul) (tr. LS)
