NATO launches expansion of Romanian base - report

The Romanian government has allocated 2.5 billion euro ($2.71 billion) for the expansion project, Euronews Romania reported on Saturday.

Work has started on the basic infrastructure of the base, such as its access roads and power grid. A new landing strip will also be built, parallel to the existing one.

Upon completion, the base will be able to house up to 10,000 NATO soldiers along with their families.

"In addition to the capabilities of Air Base 57 [...] we are also designing the necessary infrastructure to be able to host and support ground capabilities, for special operations or any other type of military capability that is necessary to provide a response in the security context," Nicolae Cretu, commander of the air base, was quoted as saying.

"Very good news. The latest example of Romanian contributions to collective defense. MK has for years been an important hub in the Black Sea region for NATO Air Policing and for US logistics and training. MK expansion is important for implementing Black Sea strategy," said General Ben Hodges, NATO Senior Mentor for Logistics, in a social media post on Monday.

The expansion comes in the context of broader efforts to bolster defence capabilities in the region following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. On Friday, the European Comission released a fact sheet showing that a joint project for an explosives manufacturing plant by German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall and Romanian state-owned military equipment company Romarm received 47 million euro in EU funds under the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP). A team of Rheinmetall technicians will arrive in Romania in the beginning of August to draw an action plan for the construction of the facility.

Last week, Romanian president Klaus Iohannis announced his intention to run for the position of NATO Secretary-General. The term of office of the incumbent NATO chief, Jens Stoltenberg, is set to expire in October.

($=0.9225 euro)