Romania has concluded the formal transfer of 18 second-hand F-16 Fighting Falcons from the Netherlands at a cost of just 1 Euro, roughly $1.15, a deal that sounds too good to be true.
“The intergovernmental contract for Romania’s acquisition of 18 F-16 aircraft from the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands was signed on Monday, November 3rd, at the Ministry of National Defence headquarters,” the Romanian Ministry of National Defense announced in an official statement.
Interestingly, these second-hand Dutch F-16s have been in Romania since November 2023 and are used by the European F-16 Training Fighter Center (EFTC), which was established to train F-16 pilots from Romania and allied countries. They will continue to be used by the centre for that same role.
Romania sought the transfer of the aircraft during the NATO Summit earlier this year.
“I expressed my interest in this acquisition back in June, at the end of the NATO Summit in The Hague, when I signed, together with my Dutch counterpart, the Memorandum of Understanding on the extension of the functioning of the European F-16 Training Center in Romania – EFTC,” Romanian Defense Minister Liviu-Ionuț Moșteanu said.
The meagre cost of one Euro for the F-16 AM/BM used by the EFCT appears to be merely symbolic, especially when compared to the $70 million (or more) per unit price tag of the latest F-16 70/72 variant.
However, the devil is in the details. A VAT (Value Added Tax) of 21 million Euros, or about $24 million, has been levied on the total purchase of 1 Euro. This cost includes the aircraft and the logistics support package for its operation.
Romania earlier purchased 32 used F-16 from Norway at a cost of about €388 million, or about $387 million.
Nonetheless, this is not the first such transaction in NATO’s history. At some point in the 2000s, Germany sold 22 MiG-29 fighters to Poland for a symbolic 1 Euro each. The package included weaponry and ground gear. You can read a detailed EurAsian Times report about how Berlin obtained the Soviet jets and then sold them off to Warsaw.
On its part, Romania acquired the aircraft at a “super deal” price because the Netherlands decided to retire these old fighters to make way for the formidable F-35A Lightning II stealth aircraft.
The formal addition of Dutch F-16s brings Romania’s total F-16 fleet to 67 aircraft, including jets previously acquired from Portugal and Norway. These combat-hardened aircraft are deployed by Bucharest for air policing missions on the strategic Eastern NATO flank and in the Black Sea region, where increased intrusions by Russian jets have been reported.
F-16 Fighter Training In Romania
It is pertinent to note that Romania has been selected to ensure a specific number of training slots for NATO under the EFCT program. As per this arrangement, Romania provides the 86th Air Base, training facilities, and “host nation support,” the Netherlands donates the jets, and Lockheed Martin provides instructors and maintenance.
In addition to training Romanian pilots, the EFCT has been entrusted with the responsibility of training Ukrainian pilots who have been flying the fighter since August 2024.
“The training center is a textbook example of successful cooperation. We are working with Romania and Lockheed Martin in a unique way to train Romanian and Ukrainian pilots. It is wonderful that our former F-16s have been given a valuable new lease of life at the EFTC. The Ukrainian pilots who have been trained here are already making a significant contribution to protecting their country against the terrible Russian airstrikes,” Ruben Brekelmans, the Dutch Minister of Defense, said in a statement.
The EFTC currently has a unique capability in Europe: it offers a comprehensive training program for F-16 pilots and a structure that allows pilots and instructors from Ukraine and other NATO nations to train together as per the same standards.
The future of EFCT is uncertain as several European countries, including the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and Belgium, are replacing the jets with the F-35. In fact, Romania itself is expected to induct the F-35 in the 2030s and is currently using F-16s as a stopgap.
Nonetheless, the utility of the F-16 has not diminished.
For one, Ukraine is still receiving the 87 F-16s pledged by the consortium of Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Belgium, meaning a comprehensive training program for Ukrainian pilots will continue in Romania.
If there is one thing that has been unanimously agreed upon, it is that the mission success of Ukrainian F-16s against Moscow depends on the comprehensive training imparted to the Ukrainian pilots who have only ever flown Soviet-era jets. The importance of the EFCT, therefore, cannot be overstated.
As the Romanian Defense Ministry said, “The signing of this contract represents an essential moment in the evolution of the European F-16 Training Center, emphasizing the intention of the Ministry of National Defence to maintain the operational facility in the coming years, considering the need for Romanian pilots and those of the allied and partner states, compared to the rather limited training possibilities at the international level.”
Moreover, the deployment of F-16s across Europe and the ensuing EFCT program are every bit significant, because the era of the Vipers is not over. Lockheed has been aggressively promoting the Block 70/72 in the export market, and two NATO members, Bulgaria and Slovakia, have already purchased the jet to replace their MiG-29 fleets.
When The Dutch F-16 Scored Their Best Kill
In 1999, a conflict erupted between Albanian separatists from the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and the Serbian army in what was then the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia, consisting of Serbia and Montenegro.
The NATO forces launched a bombing campaign on March 24, 1999, based on information that the Serbian Army was conducting an ethnic cleansing of the Albanians in Kosovo.
Remarkably, a Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16 made one of the first kills in this mission. The first combat jets to enter the Serbian airspace were four Dutch Air Force F-16AMs. In just a matter of minutes, a Serbian MiG-29 was shot down by the Dutch, giving them their first air-to-air win since World War II.
Reports stated that the F-16 AM, the most sophisticated F-16 in active service at the time, made its combat debut during this conflict.
In an interview with Jane’s Defense Weekly, Lt Col Jon Abma, RNlAF, the commanding officer of the Belgian-Netherlands Deployed Air Task Force (DATF), discussed the events during the initial phases of Operation Allied Force.
He said, “At 19.30hr local time, four F-16AMs took off from here for a fighter escort mission to protect one of the first NATO strike packages. After an in-flight refueling over the Adriatic Sea, the flight crossed over Albania into Serbia. Upon entering Serbian airspace, AWACS informed them that three MiG-29 aircraft had taken off from an air base near Belgrade.”
“The four F-16AMs headed out toward the threat, working to detect the MiGs on their radars. Subsequently, one of the MiGs was picked up by all four F-16s. When within range, our flight leader fired one AMRAAM against the MiG. It was an instant hit after a flight of 30 seconds,” he noted.
“The pilot involved visually saw a fiery explosion. At the same time, the AWACS recorded that the MiG disappeared from the scope.”
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