Romanian-German military cooperation
Germany reiterates its commitment to protecting NATO's Eastern Flank.
Bogdan Matei, 10.12.2025, 13:50
The upgrade of the Romanian Army has Germany’s full support, said the state secretary Nils Schmidt during a visit to the 57th Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base near the Black Sea. He had a meeting on Tuesday with the state secretary with the Romanian defence ministry Sorin-Dan Moldovan.
The talks focused on opportunities to extend cooperation in the field of defence, including air policing missions carried out by German pilots alongside the Romanian Air Forces, in the context of threats to regional and international security. The two officials emphasised that vigilance must be increased, given the growing number of incidents in which (most likely Russian) drones have flown over Romanian territory.
As Nils Schmidt pointed out, at the end of November Eurofighter aircraft took off three times in a single day to protect NATO airspace. Cooperation is also increasingly intense in the defence industry, he added, and voiced satisfaction with the cooperation opportunities with Romanian partners in the implementation of SAFE.
In turn, Sorin-Dan Moldovan said:
Sorin-Dan Moldovan: “We are interested in developing the cooperation between Romania and Germany within the framework of the SAFE financial instrument. We are exploring together with our German partner new ways of working together in upgrading defence capabilities, strengthening the deterrence and defence posture at the Black Sea and support for Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova.”
Rheinmetall’s plan to open a plant in Braşov is just one of the joint defence projects of Romania and Germany. According to German experts, it will be the world’s state-of-the-art powder producer, following an investment of half a billion euros which will create about 700 new jobs. Part of the new factory’s supply chain will be local.
Beyond the strictly technical dimension of the bilateral cooperation, Romanian media also note a rather embarrassing detail concerning the Mihail Kogălniceanu visit. Originally, one of the “heavyweights” of the German government, the defence minister Boris Pistorius was expected to attend. According to a statement from the Romanian defence ministry, his visit to the air base, a multinational-capability site which is critical for the Allied defence posture on the Eastern Flank, was to highlight Germany’s constant commitment to Romania’s security. But Pistorius changed his plans, and the media speculate that this was because of political troubles in Bucharest. Recently, the defence minister Ionuţ Moşteanu (USR) resigned over controversies concerning his resume, in which he included a university degree that he simply did not have, and the post has been temporarily taken over by his party fellow Radu Miruţă, the head of the economy ministry. (AMP)
