MApN announced on Wednesday that Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base 57 had a ceremony occasioned by the handing over of the Enhanced Air Policing between the Royal Air Force of United Kingdom and Northern Ireland and the Royal Canadian Air Force.
The Canadian detachment, deployed in our country this week, will consist of about 135 soldiers (pilots and technical staff) and five CF-18 Hornet aircraft and will carry, along with the MiG-21 LanceR aircraft and military staff of The Romanian Air Force, air policing missions in the next four months.
The five CF-18 Hornet aircraft and aeronautical personnel are deployed from Aviation Squadron 425 from Bagotville, Quebec, and support staff is provided by two aviation structures from the same Canadian squadron, RCAF 2 Wing, respectively RCAF 3 Wing.
The joint missions, the MApN explains, will contribute to the development of the reaction and deterrence capacity as well as to the enhancement of the interoperability between the Romanian and the Canadian Air Force.
Wednesday’s action was attended by the Ambassador of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, Andrew Noble and the Ambassador of Canada, Kevin Hamilton, and the National Defence Ministry was represented by the Chief of Air Force Staff, Brigadier General Viorel Pana.
The enhanced Air Policing under NATO command is a peacetime collective defence mission to protect the airspace of the Alliance.
The Royal Canadian Air Force takes part in this rotation mission with other allied nations as part of the Reassurance Operation.
Reassurance Operation refers to the military actions carried out by the Canadian Air Force since 2014 within NATO’s assurance and deterrence measures in the Eastern and Central Europe.
The Royal Canadian Air Force is on the fourth mission in Romania after those completed in 2014 in General Emanoil Ionescu Air Base 71 in Campia Turzii, and in 2016 and 2017 in Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base 57.
