Six RAF Eurofighter Typhoons sit on the taxiway, engines roaring on two, as ground crews rush to put the finishing touches before takeoff.
In the distance, a cloud of dust rises in the summer haze above the construction site of the second runway, 3.5 kilometers long, next to the first. The hot northern wind blows the new and ravages the old hangars.
The Mihai Kogalniceanu (MK) airbase takes its name from the nearby village, itself named after a liberal politician from the 19th century.
Now this is the unlikely setting for what will become the largest NATO base in Europe, bigger even than Ramstein in Germany.
Russian President Vladimir Putin justified its war in Ukraine on the grounds that NATO is encroaching on Russia’s European flank. In response to his invasion, more pieces have been moved forward on the NATO chessboard.
The MK base will soon have a squadron of Romanian F-16s – recently purchased from Norway – as well as MQ-9 Reaper drones, and a military city through which NATO army, air force and navy personnel will rotate from 32 countries.
The latest newcomers are the Finns. The base is located just 20 km from the Black Sea coast, 300 km from Odesa (while the fighter is flying) and 400 km from Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea.
This is RAF pilot Flt Lt Charlie Tagg’s third and final shift here.
“There is a much larger American presence here, much more infrastructure, accommodation, people and equipment.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has changed both the areas he flies over, he says, and the mission’s strategic posture. In 2021, during its last tour, NATO fighter pilots flew far over the international waters of the Black Sea. But now they stick to the 12 nautical mile zone above Romanian and Bulgarian territorial waters, “to avoid misunderstandings and escalating situations with the Russians.”
“We were previously here as a deterrent to Russian aggression. Now it is more of a reassurance for other NATO countries, such as Romania, that we are here and ready to defend.”
Since his arrival, he says, there has not been a call to intercept a Russian aircraft, although there has been on previous missions over the Baltic Sea.
“They will just blunder through it – it’s not against any international law, they have the right to do that. But we will put a plane next to that enemy plane. From an attitude point of view, it shows the Russians… that we are active. We fly armed fighter jets, so it sends a clear message.
“And it also provides us with valuable information. We record the serial numbers of aircraft and the weapons those aircraft carry, so it also contributes to the whole intelligence picture.”
Late at night, at the British compound at the MK base, he sees on his radar screens how the war is unfolding in neighboring Ukraine.
“We could see Shahed drones entering Odesa. The heat sources on the ground, where the weapons hit, to radar feeds that track aircraft, both friendly aircraft and not so friendly aircraft. So it’s quite surreal.”
While NATO jets avoid unnecessary encounters with the Russians, two known incidents have occurred over the Black Sea. In September 2022, a Russian pilot misunderstood a ground control command and narrowly managed to shoot down a British intelligence-gathering plane with a crew of up to 30.
In March 2023, a US MQ-9 Reaper drone flown from Romania was deliberately shot down by a Russian SU-27 “Flanker” jet over international waters.
Despite all this, daily life at the MK base is mostly quiet. In front of base commander Nicolae Cretu’s office building, the seagulls and crows are noisily harvesting a row of cherry trees. In his semi-permanent office, Scott Delay of American Army Support – Black Sea plans logistics for the 1,840 U.S. personnel currently supporting the base.
“We try to give them a homely feeling while they’re here. So it’s really no different than any community. There is only a fence around it.”
One thing American soldiers have a hard time getting used to, he says, is that delivery times for items ordered online in Romania can take weeks instead of hours.
Before I leave the base, British pilot Charlie Tagg shows me around his plane. Up close, the Typhoon looks powerful, but a bit outdated. But the weapons, he explains, are constantly being upgraded. It can now drop three different types of bombs.
“And we will have new radars, which will allow us to detect and tackle threats at even greater distances.”
