--- title: "US Military Base in Romania- Major Black Sea Hub for NATO Aircraft" type: "post" post_id: "1356" slug: "us-military-base-in-romania-major-black-sea-hub-for-nato-aircraft" canonical: "https://pennyforyourthoughts2.ca/2022/01/19/us-military-base-in-romania-major-black-sea-hub-for-nato-aircraft/" markdown_url: "https://pennyforyourthoughts2.ca/2022/01/19/us-military-base-in-romania-major-black-sea-hub-for-nato-aircraft.md" json_url: "https://pennyforyourthoughts2.ca/2022/01/19/us-military-base-in-romania-major-black-sea-hub-for-nato-aircraft.json" txt_url: "https://pennyforyourthoughts2.ca/2022/01/19/us-military-base-in-romania-major-black-sea-hub-for-nato-aircraft.txt" published: "2022-01-19T22:17:59+00:00" modified: "2022-01-19T22:17:59+00:00" author: "penny2" categories: - "Uncategorized" tags: - "NATO" - "Romania" - "Russia" - "Ukraine" - "US" site_name: "PFYT2" publisher: "" language: "en-US" generator: "easyPress Markdown" generator_version: "1.0.6" --- **Location, location, location** ![](https://i0.wp.com/pennyforyourthoughts2.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/image-37.png?resize=580%2C445&ssl=1)**As you can all see Romania is on the Black Sea. Sharing a border with Ukraine and Moldova.** **And other states that have been in the news lately.** [ **Curiously Moldova has just declared a ‘state of emergency’**](https://www.rt.com/russia/546552-moldova-emergency-gas-crisis/) **Moldova is apparently delinquent in it’s gas payments.** *“\[State energy company\] Moldovagaz will pay Gazprom an advance of $38 million by January 20,”* Spinu announced. *“That leaves another $25 million in January, and Moldovagaz requested that this payment be delayed, but it could not come to terms with Gazprom, which didn’t want to help its daughter company.”* He added that Moldovagaz is counting on receiving credit in order to pay down this debt. **Digression ended let’s check out Romania** **and some news from 2021 we missed while distracted by the pandemic** [**Balkan Insight**](https://balkaninsight.com/2021/05/18/us-to-turn-romanian-airbase-into-nato-black-sea-hub/) > The US Air Force will this month start awarding contracts for construction work to **upgrade the Campia Turzii** base, **enabling it to support heavy cargo aircraft and host fighter jets, boosting NATO’s capacities in the Black Sea area.** ![](https://i0.wp.com/pennyforyourthoughts2.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/image-38.png?resize=580%2C348&ssl=1)> “We are getting ready to award **four projects for construction between May and August 2021**,” Darren Walls, a design and construction program manager **at the European Deterrence Initiative launched by the US after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014,** said in a [US Air Force statement](https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2607469/afimsc-det-4-afcec-upgrade-infrastructure-at-air-base-campia-turzii-romania/) quoted on Tuesday by Romanian media. > > ***“The upgrade is important because Romania needs to boost its capacity to receive further NATO aircraft in case of a crisis or conflict that require a collective response,”*** former Romanian official and security expert Claudiu Degeratu told BIRN. > > **“Romania also needs a second major air base that meets NATO standards so it can serve its [newly acquired F-16 jets](https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/romania-receives-final-f-16-from-portugal),” Degeratu added.** **Campia Turzii is the second base the US and allies have one right near the Black Sea** He said that Russia’s buildup of troops around the Ukrainian border in April **“shows that a quick renovation of the Campia Turzii base is needed”.** **Romania and its US allies already have a large NATO airbase at Mihail Kogalniceanu near the Black Sea**. The **improvements at Campia Turzii will increase the US and NATO’s capabilities to respond to any potential threats and deter Russia in the region.** This will enable the base “to sustain the \[US\] Air Force’s combat operation and surveillance missions while increasing logistics capabilities in the theatre”, he added. **Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the Black Sea has become a strategic priority for the US and NATO defence in Europe**, as the **Kremlin has heavily increased its activity and presence near the Western military alliance’s south-eastern flank.** As a result, **the US and Romania have intensified their military cooperation**. **Former US President Donald Trump’s administration planned to redeploy some of the US troops he ordered out of Germany last year to Romania and Poland – a move welcomed by Romanian and Polish officials.** ***“I advocated a bigger presence of the alliance and the US in the south of the \[NATO\] eastern flank,” Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said he told his US counterpart Joe Biden, who took part in the summit remotely.*** Security analyst Degeratu said this was ***“a message to Biden so he continues Trump’s policy to redeploy troops in the region”.*** [Of Course NATO Wants To Escalate With Russia](https://www.theamericanconservative.com/state-of-the-union/of-course-nato-wants-to-escalate-with-russia/) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It’s all too predictable that NATO brass would advocate for a continued buildup in response to Russian posturing near Ukraine. How else would it stay relevant? ![](https://i0.wp.com/pennyforyourthoughts2.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/image-39.png?resize=386%2C245&ssl=1)NATO’s flag**NATO already has [operations](https://www.nato.int/nato-on-the-map/#lat=42.6977081&lon=23.3218675&zoom=2&layer-5&infoBox=5) located in Romania through Enhanced Forward Presence’s sister operation, Tailored Forward Presence, which seeks to strengthen the south-eastern front of NATO’s reach by providing a flexible military presence that can respond rather rapidly if a crisis were to ensue**. The land troop operations is based out of Craiova, Romania, where **groups of multinational troops train together to accomplish Tailored Forward Presence’s stated goals beyond that of deterrence.** NATO also has **Human Intelligence Centre of Excellence in Oradea, the Multinational Division Southeast Headquarters in Bucharest, and the Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense system at Deveselu Airbase.** **Life sure went on for the NATO alliance. No pandemic could stop their military adventurism**