TechRussia falsely claims Romanian F-16s conducting missions over Odesa

Russia falsely claims Romanian F‑16s conducting missions over Odesa

Russian propaganda services are once again spreading false information about Romanian F-16s, reports Defence Romania. This time, the Russians claim to see them flying over Odesa, allegedly carrying out combat missions. The Romanian Ministry of Defense quickly refuted the Russian reports, emphasizing that national F-16s conduct training and observation missions exclusively in their airspace and under international law. What is known about these fighters?

The Russians are waiting for the arrival of F-16 fighters.
The Russians are waiting for the arrival of F-16 fighters.
Images source: © Licensor

7:42 PM EDT, July 16, 2024

"We are notifying you about a new disinformation attempt by propaganda channels linked to the Russian Federation in connection with a series of flight missions carried out last week by F-16 aircraft in Ukrainian airspace in the Odesa region," the Romanian Ministry of Defense announced via the Inforadar platform. According to Defence Romania, the Russians claimed that F-16 fighters are taking off from Romanian airports and carrying out combat missions over Ukraine.

Russians talk about Romanian F-16s

This is not the first time the Russians have tried to spread disinformation about Romanian F-16 fighters. For example, in January 2024, a report appeared on social media about an alleged attack by a Romanian F-16C fighter on Russian units stationed near Kherson in Ukraine. However, this was a rather unsuccessful attempt at manipulating facts, as Romania does not even possess F-16 fighters in the C version, which the Romanian defense ministry pointed out at the time.

The Romanian Air Force has F-16 fighters in the A/B construction version, upgraded to MLU 5.2 and MLU 6.5. We are talking about 17 fighters purchased from Portugal and 32 fighters acquired from Norway after Oslo retired them from service. These are multi-role machines with an estimated range of 2,000 miles, capable of flying at speeds up to 1,300 mph and operating at an altitude of up to 9 miles. These fighters are armed with a six-barrel 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon. Additionally, depending on the type of mission, they can carry a wide range of weapons, such as AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles or Paveway or JDAM bombs.

Russians await the arrival of F-16 fighters

Since the announcement of F-16 deliveries to Ukraine, much time has passed, allowing Russia to prepare for their arrival, as noted some time ago in an interview with WP Tech by former ground forces commander Gen. Waldemar Skrzypczak. Preparations include bringing air defense systems to eastern Ukraine and preparing plans for airports that could serve Ukrainians as F-16 bases.

Another element has been added to this list. This involves increasing the motivation of soldiers to eliminate Western aircraft. Defence Romania reports that on Tuesday, the Kremlin announced a reward of 15 million rubles (about $170,000) for shooting down the first F-16 fighter in Ukraine. Previously, Russian authorities announced similar rewards for destroying Abrams tanks or Patriot systems.

© essanews.com
·

Downloading, reproduction, storage, or any other use of content available on this website—regardless of its nature and form of expression (in particular, but not limited to verbal, verbal-musical, musical, audiovisual, audio, textual, graphic, and the data and information contained therein, databases and the data contained therein) and its form (e.g., literary, journalistic, scientific, cartographic, computer programs, visual arts, photographic)—requires prior and explicit consent from Wirtualna Polska Media Spółka Akcyjna, headquartered in Warsaw, the owner of this website, regardless of the method of exploration and the technique used (manual or automated, including the use of machine learning or artificial intelligence programs). The above restriction does not apply solely to facilitate their search by internet search engines and uses within contractual relations or permitted use as specified by applicable law.Detailed information regarding this notice can be found  here.