Last fall, the Defence Ministry said that Romania had sent a letter to the US government regarding its F16 aircraft for sale, a procedure in compliance with the provisions of the Romanian-American agreement on economic and technical assistance. Ministry sources quoted by Mediafax agency in January 2010, however, claimed that as far as the purchase of multi-role aircraft was concerned, the Defence Ministry budget did not allocate budget funds.

The idea to renew the navy and air fleet turned into a priority as far back as 2004, when Romania joined NATO. But the first problems arose the same year, after Bucharest bought two second-hand frigates from Great Britain. The British Serious Fraud Office deemed the transaction as dubious, after carrying out several investigations regarding the legal nature of the sales.

Analysts are already questioning Romania’s benefits in buying the F16s. On the other hand, beyond the transaction’s technical and trade details, which will be revealed in time, politicians are slamming Romania’s military strategy. Senate speaker Mircea Geoana, from the opposition Social Democrat Party, said that president Traian Basescu has the obligation to present parliament with the national security strategy over the next 3 months.

All the more so, as “new aspects have emerged in the region’’, as he put it. Geoana is alluding to Washington’s proposal to install elements of the US anti-missile defence system in Romania, as well as to what he views as ‘’extremely interesting geopolitical developments in the area’’. Geoana added that the government was obliged to make public a White Chart of the Army’s equipment and went on to criticise the allocation of less than 1% of the GDP to this purpose.