December 23 (SeeNews) - NATO member Romania is holding talks with the United States about the purchase of 12 F-16 fighter jets, as European allies said they cannot provide the requested number of aircraft, Romanian defence minister Mihnea Motoc said.
"For reasons related to developments in the general security environment, none of the allies could provide a full squadron of F-16. That's why, towards the end of this year we have orientated ourselves to direct talks with the government of the manufacturer, the US government, which has a comprehensive vision. We will put together an offer to analyze," Mihnea Motoc said in a statement aired by local TV station Digi 24 on Thursday.
In October, Romania received the first six F-16 fighter jets from Portugal as part of a programme that aims to replace the country's Soviet-era Russian-made MiGs with combat aircraft that comply with NATO standards.
Romania received another three F-16 Fighting Falcons in mid December and will get three more by September 2017, taking the total number of F-16 bought from Portugal to 12.
The combined cost of the jets is 628 million euro ($698 million), according to data posted on the Romanian defence ministry's website.
At the end of November, Romania's president Klaus Iohannis said that the country will allocate 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) to defence next year even if the effort may take budget deficit above the ceiling of 3% of GDP agreed with the European Commission.
The 2% defence spending target was established at NATO's summit in Wales, UK in 2014. Member states pledged to aim at spending 2% of their respective GDP on defence by 2024.
In order to reach the 2% target, Romania must add 4.9 billion lei ($1.14 billion/1.08 billion euro) to the defence ministry's budget for next year. Currently, Romania's defence spending relative to GDP stands at 1.48%.
Romania joined NATO in 2004, along with Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
In May, the Aegis Ashore NATO ballistic missile defence base at Deveselu, in southwestern Romania, became operational.
(1 euro = 4.5165 lei)