Romania is still in reflection after its transition from Soviet-era MiG-21 fighters to American F-16 multirole aircraft. A local media outlet released a podcast with retired aviation general Laurențiu Simionescu discussing this acquisition.
In the latest episode, they wondered what if the national military took more time to make the decision and considered the Swedish Saab JAS 39 Gripen fighter as an alternative, as delivered by Defense Romania.
Read more: Romanian Pilots on Their Transition From Soviet MiG 21 to F-16
The background for this talk is the fact Romanians purchased their F-16s without as much as a tender. Nonetheless, Simionescu emphasized that when choosing its future aircraft, the Air Force analyzed all the options as thoroughly as possible, Gripen fighters included.
The general says, F-16 still emerged victorious as the best candidate due to a number of reasons, from economic factors to NATO interoperability considerations, and more.
"I can guarantee you that although the F-16 Fighting Falcon was chosen, all other variants were also taken into account. The criteria that led to this selection are multiple and are history [now]," Simionescu assured, adding that he sees no point in idle talk in a vacuum about how things would have turned out if they had chosen Gripen.
Defense Express notes, one possible unmentioned factor was the global availability of second-hand aircraft, and it played an important role in this purchase because back in the 2010s, the Romanians concluded that they could not afford to buy new machines.
This led to the procurement of 17 aircraft from Portugal in October 2013, delivered by March 2021. Subsequently, the country bought more used aircraft from Norway. Today, Romania already has a plan for decommissioning of these aircraft between 2034 and 2040.
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