The airport infrastructure at “General Emanoil Ionescu” Air Base 71, which will have to support the F-16 Fighting Falcon multi-role aircraft, will play a key role in the operation of this aircraft.
Cătălin Podaru, Founder and General Manager of Leviatan Design, a Romanian military contractor, told DefenseRomania what such a project entails and why it is so important.
“Leviatan Design” is involved inter alia in very large military infrastructure projects, including the one in Sibiu, inside the South-East Multinational Corps Command, but also in operational infrastructure projects that are implemented in “General Emanoil Ionescu” Air Base 71 (Câmpia Turzii).
So many people talk about the F-16, therefore it is essential to emphasize what lies behind this modern military technique: the airport infrastructure that makes the operation of this aircraft possible. And the same goes for Patriot or HIMARS. This is sophisticated equipment that must be stored and operated based on infrastructure that has to comply with a host of requirements and technical specifications.
Cătălin Podaru explains how complex this type of infrastructure is: “if you have one little pebble on the runway, it can damage the engine or cause an accident”.
“Our in-house architects, engineers and project managers discuss and always emphasize the same thing in their interaction with clients: our mission is to complete these projects and our role is to understand the customer’s needs, the operational requirements that enable the operation of this equipment, and the missions that these weapons will cover”.
“This is the only way in which we can build these facilities according to the requirements of the client”, added the founder of the Romanian company Leviatan Design.
Airport infrastructure plays a key role. Different types of allied military planes use the Romanian runways to take off and land
Cătălin Podaru told DefenseRomania that the equipment that is used in the hangars where F-16s are serviced must comply with specific requirements that have to be integrated in the project.
Regarding the importance of understanding a contractor’s mission and how it fits within a military infrastructure project, Podaru mentioned the Enhanced Air Policing missions that are carried out on Romanian territory and that involve aircraft of different types, such as F-16 or Eurofighter Typhoon.
“It takes a lot of effort to support the capabilities of the airport infrastructures used by the military aircraft, if we want air policing missions to be successful while we are sleeping well“, concluded Cătălin Podaru.
