MApN: No Ukrainian pilot has been trained at the Feteşti Center so far

No Ukrainian pilot has been trained at the European F-16 Training Center in Feteşti, state the representatives of the Ministry of National Defense in a press release, issued on Friday, which also shows that the so-called "Report on the activities of the Ministry of Defense on training of Ukrainian pilots in 2024" circulating on the Telegram network is fake news.

The cited source states: "This document is a gross forgery, created by inserting information taken from pages 5 and 12 of the Report on the activity carried out by the Ministry of National Defense in 2023, a document published on the MApN website. (...) Among the paragraphs - taken with drafting errors from the official document in question - a carelessly drafted text, with obvious mistakes, was slipped in, being, most likely, a text automatically translated from another language. This so-called information, which was given a title to create the appearance of an official report, tries to give credit to the idea that Ukrainian pilots have already started training in the European F-16 Training Center in Feteşti, which is absolutely false. Since the inauguration, which took place in November 2023 and until now, this Center has trained a first series of pilots, from the Romanian Air Force. The ceremony dedicated to the graduation of this first series took place on July 26, 2024".

MApN mentions that the European F-16 Training Center in Feteşti will also be able to train pilots from NATO member countries and partners, including Ukraine, but that this has not happened so far.

On the other hand, MApN announces that a detachment of the Spanish Air Force will carry out air police operations in Romania for 4 months, starting tomorrow, August 6, at the 57 Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base. The Spanish detachment consists of approximately 150 military personnel (pilots and technical personnel) and eight F-18 Hornet aircraft. In the next four months, he will perform Enhanced Air Policing missions under NATO command, together with soldiers of the Romanian Air Force. The joint air police missions contribute to the development of reaction and deterrence capacity, as well as to the strengthening of interoperability between the Romanian Air Force and the Spanish Air Force.