Marta Gichko12:12, 07.08.24

This project had been brewing since 2008, but it was only possible to implement it after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In Romania, a Soviet-era airfield is being converted into NATO’s largest military base .

As The Times writes, engineering and construction work at the Mihail Kogalniceanu (MK) airbase is already underway. Diggers are digging the ground and cement mixers are pouring the foundation.

Russia is in tension

Russia has condemned the expansion of the air base, located just 95 km from the border with Ukraine, as an example of NATO aggression.

“The closer he gets to Russia’s borders, the more likely it is that it will be one of the first targets for retaliatory strikes,” Andrei Klimov, a Russian senator and vice chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, warned earlier this year.

But Romania’s desire to shore up its defenses can be understood as a response to Russia’s hostility. Russian drones and missiles aimed at Ukrainian ports on the Danube have frequently crossed into Romania. Just last week, the wreckage of three Shahed 136s was found in Romania, prompting NATO to step up fighter patrols along the border.

The belated arrival of the F-16s will help Ukraine deter drone and missile attacks on its critical infrastructure and thwart Russian jets that drop glide bombs on Ukrainian cities.

“We often heard the word “impossible”. Now it is reality. Reality is in our skies. F-16 in Ukraine. We did it,” commented President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov ridiculed predictions that F-16s would halt Russia’s creeping advance on the front lines in the east, saying they were not a “magic bullet”.

Across the border in Romania, where residents of the Danube city of Tulcea are accustomed to nightly duels between Russian drones and Ukrainian air defenses, construction continues on a second runway at the MK air base.

Ben Hodges, a retired US general and one of the project’s proponents, admitted there was trepidation when talk of establishing a base less than 400km from Crimea was first floated. Now, he says, the proactive approach seems justified.

“I remember thinking, ‘I’m tired of constantly reacting to what the Russians do.’ Why don’t we make them care about what we do?” Hodges said.

During the Cold War, the United States looked down on the Soviet Union from its bases in West Germany. One of them, Ramstein, continues to serve as NATO’s nerve center, housing some 50,000 troops and their families.

MK will surpass Rammstein

But over the next two decades, MK Air Base in eastern Romania will surpass Ramstein, swallowing up 2,800 hectares of farmland to become the largest NATO base in Europe, twice the size of the German garrison.

Strategically located outside Constanta, MK Air Base already serves as headquarters for NATO missions to control the Black Sea.

Six RAF Typhoons recently completed a four-month patrol of Romanian and Bulgarian airspace, operating along perhaps the most sensitive stretch of NATO’s border with Russia – certainly the only area where angry incidents have occurred.

In the autumn of 2022, a Russian pilot attempted to shoot down an RAF Rivet Joint spy plane south of Crimea. A few months later, a Russian Su-27 fighter jet likely dumped fuel on an American Reaper drone, causing it to crash into the Black Sea.

Tensions remain high, and the arrival of two nuclear-capable American B-52s has added to the tension.

The Louisiana-based bombers arrived in Romania via the Arctic, descending into the Black Sea. At one point, the B-52s skirted sensitive military installations on Russia’s Kola Peninsula, causing panic in the Russian air force, prompting MiG-29 and MiG-31 fighters to scramble. The Kremlin boasted that the B-52s, escorted by Finnish fighters, were forced into a humiliating turn – claims the U.S. Air Force denies.

“I have seen the Russian comments. The mission was not affected or changed. It was carried out as planned,” said Col. Nicolae Cretu, the Romanian commander of the MK air base.

The transformation of Air Base MK into a NATO fortress that can accommodate 10,000 troops and US nuclear bombers was originally conceived as a response to Russia’s attacks on Georgia in 2008 and Crimea in 2014, but the project has taken on added significance following the full invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

For Hodges, the expansion of the air base demonstrates the seriousness with which countries once behind the Iron Curtain take the threat from Russia.

“These countries, those that are closest to Russia and have been under Russian influence, they know what this is. They understand what we are talking about. The decision to strengthen the MK is a statement that Russia will not tell us what we can and cannot do,” he says.

NATO’s centre of gravity shifts to the east

There is a sense that Romania’s investment is part of a larger trend that shows NATO’s centre of gravity is shifting east. Poland will spend more than 4 percent of GDP on defence this year, and the Baltic states have led the push to raise NATO’s minimum spending level to 2.5 percent of GDP.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis’ bid to become NATO secretary general earlier this year was another sign of Eastern Europe’s desire to have more influence in the defence alliance.

Former Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas was also rejected from a NATO post but has managed to become the EU’s top diplomat, perhaps a sign that Western Europe’s traditional monopoly on top positions in multilateral institutions is coming to an end.

In addition to investing $2.6 billion in the MK air base, Romania has acquired three F-16 squadrons from Norway and Portugal to replace Soviet fighters, and will enter into a $6.3 billion deal this fall to buy 32 F-35 Lightnings.

(C)UNIAN 2024