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Ambassador Gitenstein: Romanian military has to get to next-generation fighters; the US wants to help
US ambassador in Bucharest Mark Gitenstein says there has been a perennial discussion between the Romanian and the US governments over Romania's acquiring F16 fighters, and a problem in this sense is that the airplane is expensive, but they should not have to be brand new, as they can also be refurbished.
'The original request for the United State to consider selling F16s came from the Romanian Government. This has been a perennial discussion between our two governments. The real question here is one of cost. It is extremely expensive. A brand new F16 costs about 100 million US dollars, and the question is how can we put ageing MG21s out of existence, and I agree with the assessment of the Romanian military that it needs to move to a next-generation fighter and we want to help Romania get there. But they may not be brand new planes; it may be some combination of old planes and new planes, but the important thing to remember is that the transaction is really a transaction with the US Air Force and its training programmes, and its integration programmes in terms of technology. That is what we are working on: how can we begin to select and train Romanian pilots to move to this next generation of aircraft, and what we need as soon as possible is to get airplanes available because we cannot begin to train the pilots; our programme will not start training the pilots unless there are planes for them to fly. They may not be brand new airplanes; they could be refurbished airplanes,' Gitenstein told TVR Info channel in an interview on Thursday evening.
He underscored that refurbished airplanes can be a solution.
' There are refurbished airplanes that have 95 percent of their capability brand new. They flew in the no-fly zone in Libya. I was talking the other day to one of the top people at Lockheed Martin who pointed out to me that he flew for twenty years and he never flew an F16, so flying old or new F16s is not the issue; the issue is beginning to train the Romanian pilots and getting the planes in position so they can be used. Otherwise, if you are beginning training the pilots and they do not have an airplane to fly, then the training is all waste,' said Gitenstein.
Asked whether the discussions over the acquisition of the F16 fighters are frozen, Gitenstein said, 'There have been discussions ongoing ever since I have been here. They are not really frozen. They are not more frozen than anything else is as a result of changing government here.'