A bilateral training exercise was held this summer between American and Romanian Special Operations Forces at Boboc Air Base in Romania from July 11 to July 25, focusing on airborne operations.
The exercise saw Romania's 53rd Commando Battalion working with the American Air Force 352d Special Operations Wing, conducting a variety of different training missions such as free-fall jumps, infiltration and extraction, low-altitude flying, and the establishment of ground refueling points. During the training, over 500 Romanian jumpers parachuted from the American MC-130J Commando II and Romanian C-27J Spartan aircraft.
"We’re working with their ground forces, rotary forces, and fixed-wing forces," explained the mission commander of the 352d SOW. "The big goal in this instance is helping the Romanians improve [air capabilities] and interoperability."
In Eastern Europe, Romania makes up one of a number of countries forming a bulwark against Russian aggression, which has invaded Ukraine with ground troops. The United States military works closely with the militaries of adjacent nations such as Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic, and others.
"We’ve been training, we’ve standardized our tactics. It makes it easier if a conflict ever comes up," the mission commander for the exercise said in a press release. "It makes us more effective, because then you have the might of multiple countries going at one enemy or one problem set."