Three hundred Belgian soldiers will deploy in the course of next week in Romania as part of NATO’s rapid reaction force, within a Franco-Belgian battalion which will ensure a mission of protection and deterrence, announced on Saturday on Twitter the Minister of Defense, Ludivine Dedonder.
According to the Minister, the Belgian soldiers who will be sent to Romania are mainly from the 1/3 Battalion of Lancers.
Located in Marche-en-Famenne (province of Luxembourg), it has some 400 men and women. It is an operational infantry unit of the Motorized Brigade.
France, for its part, announced the deployment of 500 soldiers in Romania, with armored vehicles and combat machinery.
Belgium is already active on the eastern flank of the Atlantic alliance. Four Belgian F-16s and around fifty soldiers have been deployed in Estonia since the end of 2021 to contribute to the air policing of the Baltic countries. “The four F-16s have meanwhile been assigned a larger area to monitor“Said a spokesperson for the Minister of Defense, adding that Belgium was ready to provide two additional F-16s, if requested.