Village on Ukraine's doorstep set to become NATO's biggest European airbase

An airbase located only around 12 miles from the Black Sea coast and 180 miles from the war-torn city of Odesa in southern Ukraine is poised to become NATO's largest base in Europe, News.Az reports citing Business Insider.

A $2.7 billion project to transform Mihail Kogălniceanu airbase in Romania began earlier this year.

The base, which has been used by the US military since 1999, is set to become the size of a small city, with the capacity to host 10,000 NATO personnel and their families, Euro News Romania previously reported.

Nicolae Crețu, the commander of the air base, told the outlet that the expanded facility would require "maintenance hangars, fuel stores, ammunition, equipment, aviation technical materials, simulators, feeding facilities, accommodation."

"Everything that is needed to support the operation and missions of a base of this size," he said.

A fleet of Romanian F-16 fighter jets recently bought from Norway, as well as MQ-9 Reaper drones, will also soon arrive at the base, the BBC reported.

NATO announced earlier this month that seven Finnish Air Force F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets had landed at the base on June 3 to carry out "training and real-world sorties along the eastern flank on the Black Sea coast."

"For two months the Finnish jets are joining a Royal Air Force Typhoon detachment and will be doing quick-reaction alert duty and flying alongside them and Romanian F-16s collectively securing NATO airspace and assuring the Romanian population," Lt Cl Rami Lindström, the first commander of the Finnish detachment at the base, said.

"Our objective here in Romania is to enhance our integration into NATO Air Power by honing and deepening our cooperation with the Royal Air Force and the Romanian Air Force", he added.

News.Az