Romanian here.
I will try to pretend that I didn't see all the "nice" comments towards Romanians on this forum, so I will try to keep my comments on the topic.
It is a mistake that some of you disregard the capabilities of the Romanian Armed Forces, it's your loss.
Personally, I am not happy with the acquisition of the second-hand F-16s, but it is a done thing now.
Third-hand in fact, as it was already posted here, the first 12 airframes were manufactured in 1983-1984 and also used by the Americans before they give them to the Portuguese.
Nevertheless, these fighters are not that bad as some of you picture and they are at least at the level of your Gripens.
The airframes were totally refurbished in Portugal so at the time when Romania received them, each airframe had a total lifespan of 4,000 hours of flight left.
At an average of 1.5 pilots per plane and each with 130 hours of flight, each aircraft can be used for 20 years.
These fighters have the AN / APG-66V (2) A radar with a detection range of approximately 115 km similar to the PS-05 / A radar on the Gripen C / D which has a detection range of about 120 km.
Armament of the Romanian F-16s include:
- 30 x AIM 120 AMRAAM C6 (later upgraded to AMRAAM-C7)
- 60 x AIM 9M Sidewinder
- 18 x AGM 65H Maverick
These weapons were bought with the first batch of 12 aircrafts.
Also Sniper Targeting Pods were bought
Later on Romania also bought 10 x AIM-9X Sidewinder Block II missiles.
Very few but it's a start.
So, I see that one user here thinks that the Hungarian Gripens will wipe the floor with the Romanian F-16s. Dude, don't be so arrogant, the sides aren't disproportionate at all. And you have only 14 Gripens, and Gripen is not Eurofighter or Rafale.
I don't want to be rude, but don't lie to yourself, you can't see the reality and you can't accept the truth because of the hatred you have for Romania.
The same user stated that Hungary's GDP per capita is 50% more than that of Romania. (I hope I did read well and it was not a mistake due to Google translate)
Hungary has a GDP per capita slighty higher than Romania, but 50% difference? wtf. At least check on Wikipedia if nothing else.
And I want to also address some fake news that is spread here by some users:
1) "Romania's Patriot systems are in control of the Americans"
This is totally fake. Romania ordered a total of 7 fire units, 3 or 4 of them have already been paid, only the first fire unit arrived in the country yet.
Romanian military personnel have been trained and are still trained in order to operate the systems. These belong totally to Romania, 4 fire units for the Air Force and 3 fire units for the Army.
On the other hand, the Aegis Ashore base in Deveselu, Romania, which has SM-3 missiles is owned and operated by the US Navy. That base is US property under NATO command.
2) Myth no.2: "Americans will not sell F-35 to Romania"
Again, completely wrong.
One of the reasons that Romania didn't buy additional F-16s yet is because US pressure to buy F-35s directly instead of additional used F-16s, just like Poland did. But Romanian officials acknowledged that there simply aren't money yet for F-35s because that if we buy F-35s now like Poland, it would mean delay of other major programs. So we stick to the additional F-16s now probably second-hand. Poland has a more than double budget.
Officially Romania plans to purchase F-35 since 2030.
And be sure that what Poland gets from the Americans, Romania will also get if it have the money. And the US will likely sell F-35s to any NATO ally if it has the money.
3) When Romania received the first 18 units of HIMARS launchers I read here that this is all Romania will get.
Again this is wrong, US delivers the HIMARS launchers as they are built.
The contract includes among others a total of 54 launchers and 54 ATACMS missiles.
PS: I am working on a military-themed website so I will also post a lot of articles about Hungary so I found this forum to inform myself about Hungarian acquisition programs.
And I will try to be totally unbiased and present the facts as they'll denaturate are the truth and not as some users do here when It comes to Romania.
I felt very bad when I read the topic about Romania on this forum.
Basically all of the bad things that happen in Romania are posted there and people laugh. I really wondered if the average-age of the users here is 14 or something like that, because some of them are above any limit. It is bad if they are adults and think the way they think.
Anyway, if someone has any additional question about Romanian Military and it's acquisition programs I will try to answer as well as I can without denaturate the truth.
By the way this video about Hungary was posted by me:
[MEDIA = youtube] C0mE2pFZvSk [/ MEDIA]
Keep in mind that this was posted back in 2019 when many of the purchases were not yet announced at that time.