As part of Canada's support to NATO and European security, Air Task Force Romania (ATF-R) assumed NATO enhanced Air Policing duties today at a ceremony at Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base, alongside the Romanian Air Force, and other allies.
A total of eight CF-18s have deployed to Romania. While the ATF conducts 24/7 Air Policing missions using a six aircraft rotation until December 2, 2022, two additional aircraft have been temporarily deployed for concurrent NATO training activities.
This is the seventh time that Canada has deployed an ATF to Romania as part of NATO's enhanced Air Policing mission, which has augmented and supported Baltic and Eastern European countries' own forces on a continual basis since Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Under NATO command and control, the ATF conducts surveillance of Romanian and allied airspace, trains with their NATO counterparts, and if required, intercepts, identifies and/or escorts aircraft that enter the Romanian Air Defence Identification Zone.
