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Four Luftwaffe fighter aircraft to be deployed to Romania at November-end
German Ambassador to Romania Peer Gebauer announced on Friday that the German Luftwaffe Air Force will deploy four Eurofighter aicraft in Romania for a limited period of time from the end of November.
"The repeated violation of Romania's airspace with drones in recent months has shown us again how close Russia's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine is. In these difficult times, we stand in deep solidarity with Romania. For this reason, Germany will support its close ally Romania in securing its own and NATO's airspace: From the end of November, the German Luftwaffe Air Force will deploy four Eurofighter aircraft to Romania for a limited period of time as part of the extended Air Policing South (eAPS) mission, as was already the case at the start of the war in February and March 2022. The stationing is planned at the Mihail Kogalniceanu military base near Constanta. The operational contingent consists of a total of 150 soldiers," said Peer Gebauer, quoted in a press release from the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany to Romania sent on Friday.
The ambassador also says that a "small unmanned aircraft defence system" will be deployed to protect the German contingent.
"Germany is also offering to accompany and support in the medium term the strengthening of Romanian capabilities for 'small unmanned aircraft defence'. It is clear that we live in challenging times. As NATO allies, we are working together to protect our citizens and secure allied territory. These are part of a credible deterrence," says Peer Gebauer.
Romania is an "exceptional partner" in NATO and deserves Germany's support "when needed", declared, on Friday, the ambassador of this country, Peer Gebauer, at the Aspen - GMF Bucharest Forum.
Gebauer stated that the deployment of the aircraft is "a sign of Germany's solidarity" with the countries on the Eastern Flank of NATO, which are directly affected and "especially with Romania, on which we can always rely".
Peer Gebauer emphasized, in his intervention, that Germany has demonstrated through facts that it deserves trust and recalled that in recent years "a number of EU partners and/or allies have a tendency to block things", using the right of veto "out of self-interest bilateral or national".
He praised Romania, because "it is a shining example, from Germany's perspective, of a constructive approach".
"Romania does not block anything, does not boycott anything, never uses the veto, but always focuses on finding a compromise and I think - I have said it before, but I repeat - we need more Romanians in the European Union," added Peer Gebauer.