NATO member Romania on Thursday signed a deal with Washington to buy 32 F-35 jets, an unprecedented expenditure for the country neighboring Ukraine.
Romania is the latest to acquire the combat jets, more than two and a half years after Russia invaded Ukraine.
With an estimated cost of $6.5 billion approved by Romania’s parliament, it is the most expensive military purchase by the poor eastern European country, which has gained in strategic importance since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The F-35A combat aircraft, which are expected to begin arriving in the early 2030s, will “significantly strengthen” Romania’s defense capabilities, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said at the signing ceremony.
“Unfortunately, the current geopolitical situation demonstrates the acute need for credible deterrent and defensive capabilities, both at the allied level and the national one,” he said.
Romania’s decision to buy the fighter jets will “significantly contribute… to our collective security,” US Ambassador Kathleen Kavalec said at the event.
The US State Department said in September that it had approved the sale of the F-35A aircraft and related equipment.
After Germany, Poland and Finland in recent years, Romania “becomes the twentieth member of the F-35 global alliance,” according to the jets’ producer, US aerospace and defense giant Lockheed Martin.
More than 1,000 F-35s are currently operational around the globe, according to the company.
‘Get In Line’
The order allows Romania to “get in line with the rest of the world” and be “on par with others” and is “also a way to show that we take into account the fact that this war in Ukraine could spill over Ukraine’s borders”, security expert Hari Bucur-Marcu told AFP.
The country has repeatedly found drone debris from fighting in Ukraine in its border region.
Romania inaugurated an F-16 training center last year where Ukrainian pilots began training in September, and is hosting more than 5,000 foreign troops, the largest contingent anywhere in NATO’s southeastern region.
Romania in late September signed an agreement with the US for a $920 million loan to modernize its military capabilities.
Romania says it wants to increase its military spending to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
Last year, its military budget was 1.6 percent of GDP, according to NATO figures, below the alliance’s guideline of 2.0 percent.
NATO countries have stepped up their defense expenditure over the past 10 years, according to the alliance.
The F-16 aircraft that are being used by the Romanian Air Force will start to be decommissioned around 2034, with completion around 2040. They began replacing the Soviet-heritage Mig-21 LanceR jets last year.
In June, Romania announced it would send a Patriot missile system to Ukraine, on the condition of continuing negotiations with the US and other allies to obtain a similar or equivalent system to protect its own airspace.