Romanian Air Force

Romanian Air Force Forțele Aeriene Române
Romanian Air Force Coat of Arms
Founded	1 April 1913
Country	Romania
Size	9,700 personnel
Part of	Romanian Armed Forces
Command HQ	Statul Major al Forțelor Aeriene - Bucharest
Anniversaries	20 July
Commanders
Chief of the Air Force Staff	Major General Laurian Anastasof
Insignia
Roundel
Aircraft flown
Attack	MiG-21 LanceR 'A', IAR-330 SOCAT
Fighter	MiG-21 LanceR 'C', Lockheed Martin F-16
Interceptor	Lockheed Martin F-16
Reconnaissance	Antonov An-30, RQ-7 Shadow
Trainer	MiG-21 LanceR 'B', IAR-99, IAR 316, Yak-52
Transport	C-130 Hercules, C-27J Spartan, Antonov An-26, IAR-330L/M Puma

The Romanian Air Force (Romanian: Forţele Aeriene Române) is the air force branch of the Romanian Armed Forces. It has an air force headquarters, an operational command, four air bases and an air defense brigade. Reserve forces include two air bases and three airfields.

In 2010, the Romanian Air Force employed 9,700 personnel.

The Romanian Air Force modernized 110 MiG 21 LanceRs, in cooperation with Israel between 1993 and 2002. Today, 48 of these MiG 21 LanceRs are operational. The Romanian Air Force also operates C-130 Hercules, C-27J Spartan, An-26s transport planes and IAR-330 Puma helicopters. IAR-330 PUMA SOCAT helicopters have been modernized by the Romanian Aviation Industry in cooperation with Elbit Systems (Israel) for attack missions. The Romanian Air Force also includes locally built IAR-99 Şoim jet planes, in general only used for training of the young pilots. The remaining MiG-29s have been removed from service in 2003.

Due to the old age of the MiGs, the Romanian Air Force is in the process of procurement of new fighters or possibly used fighters from partner states. Romania has signed a contract in 2013 with Portugal for 12 F-16 A/B Block 15 MLU fighters. The first six fighters have entered service with the Romanian Air Force in October 2016 while another three have been delivered in December. The last three will enter service during 2017.

Beside the 12 F-16s bought from Portugal, Romanian authorities intend to buy at least another 24 F-16s, possibly newer Block 50 ones, in at least two batches of 12.

In the spring of 2009, the Romanian government decided to purchase VSHORAD/SHORAD systems from France. The deal included Mistral MANPADS and MICA VL surface-to-air missiles. However, after preliminary talks with MBDA in August, the deal was put on hold and canceled afterwards because of the defense cuts.