Romania, a country of the former Soviet glacier, is on the front line in the context of strengthening NATO’s eastern flank in the face of tensions with Russia.
Thousands of US troops were sent as reinforcements from Washington in February to the Mihail Kogalnicanu base (southeast).
They are due to be joined this week by more than 500 French troops, whose deployment has been accelerated in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
It was from this base near the strategic Black Sea that the fighter took off shortly before 20:00 local time (18:00 GMT) to conduct an air patrol.
The pilot, whose nationality was not specified, quickly lost contact with the control tower and disappeared from radar due to bad weather.
“tragic night”
The helicopter, left behind by the nearby airport, suffered the same fate and crashed 11 km away.
The five crew members and the two naval rescuers from the Romanian navy who accompanied them died in the tragedy.
The victims, all men, are between 27 and 53 years old.
“Operations to find the pilot of the MiG-21 LanceR are still underway”said on television General Constantin Spanou, a spokesman for the defense minister.
“It is premature to discuss the causes of the crash. The weather was bad, but at this stage we cannot comment.”he stressed, announcing the opening of two commissions of inquiry. “Nothing can be done to save the crew”.
President Klaus Johannes is speaking “tragic night for Romanian aviation”turning to his “Thoughts of grieving families”.
Romania suffered another fatal crash on 5 July 2010: twelve soldiers were killed when an AN-2 plane of the Romanian armed forces crashed and caught fire shortly after taking off from Tuzla Airport (east). The plane was preparing for a training flight.
Twenty days later, six Israeli soldiers and a Romanian were killed in a helicopter crash near Brasov, in the center of the country.
NATO outpost
Soviet-era LAGs form the backbone of the Romanian Air Force, which continues to use them for air defense missions.
Bucharest has invested billions of dollars over several years to modernize its military, amid regional tensions caused by Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and growing in recent months.
If Romania is considered reserved for the time being with its status as a member of the European Union and the Atlantic Alliance, Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for the withdrawal of NATO forces from all accession countries since 1997.
Also in Moscow’s view is Romania’s anti-missile system, the host of Romania: Russia has consistently denounced the threat against it, even if NATO insists on its purely defensive goal.
Opened in 2016 and based in Deveselu (south), this shield consists of SM-2 interceptor missiles.