Turkish, Romanian fighter jets conduct interception training as part of NATO mission

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - Turkish and Romanian F-16 fighter jets conducted interception training Thursday as part of NATO's enhanced air policing mission.

"As part of NATO Enhanced Air Policing Block-64 mission, a press day was held in Romania, Fetesti Borcea Air Base. Around 50 press members attended the press day activity and also air-to-air shots were captured," the Turkish National Defense Ministry said on X.

In December, four Turkish F-16 fighter jets arrived in Romania to participate in the mission until the end of March. The jets fly sorties alongside their Romanian colleagues to safeguard NATO airspace on the eastern flank.

At Fetesti Air Base, the Turkish F-16s conducted training scrambles simulating the alarm chain from fighter preparation to take-off for an intercept.

"Since 2014, Romania has hosted NATO enhanced Air Policing of fighter detachments from eight Allies and – now – Türkiye at its air bases near the Black Sea Coast,” said Captain Cornel Pavel from the Romanian Defense Ministry was quoted as saying in a NATO statement

"This has been a major contribution to NATO’s collective effort to show its commitment to collective deterrence and defense and the close cohesion among Allies," Pavel added.

Air policing is a peacetime mission that aims to preserve the security of Alliance airspace. It is a collective task and involves the continuous presence of fighter aircraft and crews, which are ready to react quickly to possible airspace violations, according to NATO.

As a part of the broad set of assurance measures introduced following Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, allies are providing additional assets to enhance air policing along NATO’s eastern borders, it added.