February 3 (SeeNews) - Romania plans to buy Lockheed Martin's latest generation F-35 aircraft as part of its Air Force modernization programme, president Klaus Iohannis said.
"The new types of aircraft fitted to the Army, especially the F-16 aircraft, allow for a highly efficient execution of all specific missions. The process of modernizing the Air Force will not stop here, as we intend to purchase F-35 state-of-the-art aircraft," Iohannis said in a televised news conference on Wednesday during a visit to General Emanoil Ionescu air base in Cluj county.
Iohannis added that Romania is determined to further develop and modernize its military capabilities, in accordance with the commitments made within NATO.
The F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions, according to information posted on the website of U.S. security and aerospace company Lockheed Martin.
Romania currently has a fleet of 17 F-16 combat aircraft.
At the end of last year, defence minister Vasile Dincu asked parliament to give the green light to the acquisition of 32 second-hand F-16 aircraft from Norway for an estimated price of 454 million euro ($514 million).
Romania, which joined NATO in 2004, plans to spend a total of 9.8 billion euro until 2026 to boost its defence capabilities.
($=0.8841 euro)