U.S. F-15s and Romanian MiG-21s taking part in Dacian Eagle 2016 exercise in eastern Europe

Eagles and LanceRs at Campia Turzii airbase.

On Jul. 2, eight F-15C Eagles belonging to the 131st Fighter Squadron, Barnes Air National Guard Base, Massachusetts, and the 194th Fighter Squadron, Fresno Air National Guard Base, California, depolyed to the 71st airbase Campia Turzii, Romania, to take part in exercise Dacian Eagle 2016.

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The Eagles belong to the latest iteration of a Theater Security Package (TSP), a temporary deployment from CONUS (Continental US) of a force whose aim is to augment the Air Force presence in a specific region, for deterrence purposes: the F-15Cs are spending 6 months in the European theater for a support of Operation Atlantic Resolve.

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The arrival of these F-15s occurred on the same day the Romanian Air Force MiG-21s returned home after a few months deployment at the 95th Airbase in Bacau, while the runway at Campia Turzii was being repaired.

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Both aircraft types will take part in Dacian Eagle between July and September.

According to the Romanian Air Force, along with 200 American personnel from the California and Massachusetts ANG, more than 200 romanian pilots and technical personnel from the 71st Airbase are taking part with MiG 21 LancerRs and IAR 330 Puma helicopters (SOCAT and MEDEVAC) in the traditional drills at the 71st airbase with the purpose of increasing the level of preparation and interoperability between the participants.

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“The excercise is an opportunity to practice the techniques, tactics and standard procedures common in air operations, according to NATO standards by performing flights in cooperations with the American partners” and to deter further Russian aggression….

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The LanceRs are modernized MiG-21s that were given new avionics for all-weather operations, more modern avionics and the ability to employ PGMs (Precision Guided Munitions).

Although they have a limited endurance (30-45 minutes “play time”), the LanceRs are fast and maneuverable and quite good to perform the adversary role against more modern fighters.

They will start being replaced by F-16 MLUs starting this autumn.
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Image credit: Liviu Dnistran

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About David Cenciotti
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

3 Comments

  1. You hit it on the nail, the CIA financed, and directed all the so called
    more/less colored “revolutions” in EE, and around the world. Coming
    from the nation that was at war for the most time of it’s existence (21
    years of peace in all), mass murdered the native population, and invaded
    70 nations, it’s at least hypocritical to whine about “russian
    aggression” as yanks, and their vassals regularly do.
    Only the brit cousins have the edge:
    but they have a longer history, so exceptionalistan can still trump them.
    http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/02/america-war-93-time-222-239-years-since-1776.html
    http://www.countercurrents.org/polya050713.htm

    • You seem to be dragging up anything and everything in US and Anglo history. Shall we do the same with Russia? You’ll lose that comparison…..badly. Additionally, US “invasions”? Do you know what an invasion is? A handful of special forces is not a fucking invasion. If it was we could show an identical map of Russian clandestine operations. We invaded France? That’s not highlighted. We invaded Germany, that’s not highlighted. We invaded Japan and they god damn well deserved it. China? C’mon the Boxer revolution? What a joke. Russia? When did an American invasion force roll into Russia? Canada? Why don’t you color Great Britain instead because that would be more accurate. Why do you think we wen’t into Mexico? Open a book. The Philippines and all that? Yeah that’s the Japanese empire dipshit. Almost all of the countries in S. and Central America, as well as Africa, were never invasions. Most of them were FID operations at the behest of the legitimate government. When you idiots do it in the Ukraine that’s ok, but if the US does (with a handful of guys….not tanks and tactical airpower)it’s an invasion.

      Dude cut the shit. I’ve traveled and worked widely in Eastern Europe. I talk to anyone I can that feels comfortable talking about stuff. For every single person that thinks like you, there’s three or four in that same household that prefer life closer to the West than they ever did when under Moscow. And generally, the one person that likes the old ways, only does because it was “easy”. People didn’t have to worry about anything or fend for themselves. The state took care of everything. They preferred it because it made being lazy easy. Where to go to go to school, what to study, where to live, where to work, etc. Sounds like a winning combination.

      Again, cut the shit.

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