Mihail Kogelnicianu Air Base, one of the main military bases of the Romanian army and home to the largest US military presence in Romania, will be modernized in a massive program of almost 2.5 billion lei by 2030.

According to some MApN sources, the Mykhailo Kogelnicanu Air Base in Konstanz County will continue to be modernized, and by 2030 approximately 2.5 billion lei will be invested in “facility development in terms of operation, social and infrastructure”. .

“This is a real land-based aircraft carrier,” MApN sources claim.

At the moment, foreign fighter squadrons are stationed at Mykhailo Kogelnichyan Air Base, which help in the execution of the missions of the Enhanced Air Police. Now it is a German detachment with Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft. NATO sends such units on a rotation basis – in the past there were also British and Italian forces with Typhoon aircraft, and Canada participated with CF-18 Hornet aircraft.

In Kogelnician, Romanian troops operate from helicopter units, and MiG-21 Lancer aircraft also operated from there in the past.

In addition, Mihail Kogelnican (MK), apart from the air base, is home to the largest US military base in Romania. The MK facility is also home to the US military, also in a rotational format, with Abrams tanks and Bradley armored vehicles, as well as units of Black Hawk helicopters, Apache attack helicopters, and Chinook transport helicopters. The Americans often land large transport aircraft such as C-17 or C-130 Hercules on the airstrip in Kogelnichyana.

The modernization of the Kogelnichyan base by 2030 is also parallel to another military program that will occur simultaneously: the purchase of F-35 aircraft and the transition to these 5th generation stealth aircraft.

Romania currently has 20 F-16s and will receive another 29 from Norway in the coming years. A total of 49 F-16 aircraft will be divided into three squadrons: one at Borča (Feteshti) Air Base, one at Campia Turzii Air Base and one at Mykhailo Kogelnicanu Air Base.

In 2022, the Ministry of National Defense (MApN) awarded a classified “official secret” contract for the design and implementation of the first phase of the expansion and modernization of the infrastructure of the military air base in Mihail Kogelnicanu, Konstanz County, after a limited operation. The tender procedure started more than a year ago, in March 2021.

The contract, originally valued at 2.14 billion lei plus VAT (2.54 billion lei including tax), was awarded for 1.433 billion lei plus VAT, i.e. more than 1.7 billion lei in total, to a consortium led by the Romanian company Aduro Impex SRL and which also includes Bog’Art and the local subsidiary of the Austrian group Strabag.

MApN sources also say that improvements will also be made at the military bases of Cinque (where the French-led NATO battle group is based) and Deveselu (where the US Aegis Ashore anti-missile system is located).