NATO conducted a joint air and missile defence mission over Romania in April 2025 as part of a coordinated Flexible Deterrence Option (FDO), underscoring Allied cohesion and readiness across eastern Europe.
The multinational operation involved Greek and Turkish F-16 Fighting Falcons, Italian Eurofighter Typhoons, and a French air-to-air refuelling tanker.
These air elements were integrated with Surface-Based Air and Missile Defence (SBAMD) systems from France and Romania, with overall coordination provided by the Romanian Control and Reporting Centre (CRC).
The mission aimed to reinforce NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) system and improve operational synergy among Allies. NATO’s Allied Air Command highlighted that the activity “was tailored to increase Allies’ interoperability and designed to complement the permanent NATO IAMD system.”
General James Hecker, Commander of Allied Air Command, has made IAMD a central priority. The Romanian exercise reflected that commitment, providing an opportunity to rehearse integrated multi-domain operations in a contested environment. According to NATO, “planning and conducting these kinds of events enhance interoperability and multi-domain integration in order to achieve air superiority, which is mandatory.”
The mission also demonstrated the alliance’s capacity for seamless coordination between air and ground elements, with the Allied Air Command stating: “This activity demonstrated how NATO air and ground-based units are capable of conducting complex defensive operations… ensuring that NATO forces are ready to defend NATO territory.”
NATO IAMD remains a continuous defensive mission, central to the Alliance’s joint air power and encompassing a 360-degree approach to counter threats across the air domain in peace, crisis, or conflict.
