She’s a fighter pilot called Siren.
Monessa “Siren” Balzhiser, full name, was in Bucharest on Tuesday with a team to promote and the powerful and innovative Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth jet that Romania hopes to strike a deal for to beef up national security.
The acquisition of 32 F-35 fighter jets would be Romania’s largest ever arms deal, a contract worth 6.5 billion dollars.
It’s big money and the jets are the most advanced in the world– there’s also a war at Romania’s border.
„Time and time again (countries) are choosing F-35 for national security,” said Greg Day, in charge of International Business Development at Lockheed Martin. „In this region, it has become the NATO platform choice.” It is the only aircraft in production that is effectively invisible to Russian radar.
The focus in Bucharest on Tuesday, however, was on a single woman, the face behind the F-35.
„Flying is a great equalizer. It doesn’t know whether you are a male of female. It just expects you to perform,” Mrs. Balzhiser explained in an earlier video.
I asked her experiences she’d had as a female pilot. „The helmet looks the same on me as a male,” she replied. She was wearing a unisex navy blue flying suit and her long hair was pinned in a neat chignon. She is clearly as articulate as she is skilled in handling a fighter jet.
„It’s all about performance,” she told Universul.net. „There’s physical training that needs to be done, and mental capacity too. You need confidence to fly multi combat” missions she told an audience at the Marmorosch Hotel.
Physically, there is the G-force which exerts 9 Gs pressure when she’s at altitude. To get some comparison, on the typical commercial flight, passengers typically experience no more than 1.3 Gs of force on their bodies.
„You need mental strength and the ability to know when mistakes happen and to correct them.” That’s necessary as when you’re in a combat situation you want to have ironed out previous errors. Last week, she gave Romanian pilots a preview, showing them the simulator, a cockpit surrounded by large screens to make it look like real life.
However, despite the unique challenges, „It’s a lot of fun,” she adds, smiling.
She came to the single-seat F-35s having initially piloted F-16s. There was a training course of seven weeks and the first flight is solo. She qualified after three flights. „It was a pretty exhilarating ride.”
Prior to Lockheed Martin, Mrs. Balzhiser served 12 years as an officer and F-16 Instructor Pilot in the United States Air Force. She held multiple positions at the squadron and wing levels and spent the last nine years of her operational career flying missions in South Korea, Japan, and Italy. Her last position in the US Air Force was Chief of Current Operations at Aviano Air Base in Italy.
One F-35 fighter jet is already in Romania, but that number should be multiplied many times over by the end of the decade if the deal goes ahead.
Romania’s defense ministry announced last year it aims to sign a letter of acceptance in 2024 to buy 32 F-35 Lightning II fighters in the program’s first phase, and subsequently secure a further 16 aircraft.
Bucharest intends to purchase “the first two squadrons from the United States of America through the Foreign Military Sales …[scheme to buy] 32 aircraft. The purchase, whose value is estimated at $6.5 billion, will be based upon a government-to-government-type” contract, the ministry said.
Romania’s planned contract is to also cover the delivery of 35 engines, initial logistics support, training services for pilots and technical staff, simulators, weapons, as well as ammunition. The ministry said it expects to receive the first jets in 2030.
The F-35 is the only aircraft able to survive and dominate in a high threat environment against current and future threats, giving the Romanian Air Force control of Romania’s sovereign territory well into the 2070s, Lockheed says.
With more than 3,000 expected aircraft to be delivered, the F-35 is the only fighter aircraft in production today that will create jobs and allow for advanced technology transfer in Romania for the next 40–50 years.
In January, the Czech government signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance making official its intent to procure 24 Lockheed Martin 5th Generation F-35 Lightning II aircraft.
Through the U.S. government Foreign Military Sale, the Czech Air Force will receive its first aircraft in 2031, which will be in the latest advanced Block 4 configuration.
Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin Corporation is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 122,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.
The F-35 boasts an unmatched lethality, survivability, and adaptability. It is ten times more effective at collecting intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance (ISR) than other fighters. It is also capable of putting so much energy on relevant frequencies that it suppresses enemy radar and communications, according to the company website.
