Four Romanian pilots sent to the USA for training received more than 500,000 dollars from the MApN, says Minister Miruță. Money – for renting a car
The press conference organized by the Minister of National Defense, Radu Miruta, at the ministry headquarters, January 8, 2026. Photo: Inquam Photos / Octav Ganea
Radu Miruță, the Minister of Defense, declared, on Wednesday evening, that he discovered that four Romanian pilots who were sent to the United States for a training course received from MApN 575,000 dollars for renting the car. “I ordered the change of this situation”, said the minister.
“Four F-16 pilots, sent for three years to a training course in the United States, had received 575,000 dollars for renting the car in the United States,” Radu Miruță declared on Wednesday evening at Antena 3 CNN.
Pilots needed cars to travel from home to the military base where training took place. “With 30-40,000 you can get a decent car”, said Miruță.
He said he ordered the change in the situation, which he considers to be outrageous:
“I'm just giving you an example because today I ordered the change of this situation, which is outrageous and, if you want, it's an example of how you can greatly reduce expenses without affecting the core of the Romanian Army.”
He said that with more than half a million dollars, the pilots could have bought a car every 6 months, and that the reduction in the amount allocated for car leasing would not affect anyone:
“Half a year later you bought a car and threw it away. You didn't even get the benefit of selling it. Yes, yes, the amount is big. It's enormous. This amount of money was significantly reduced from this provision – by not allowing those people to ride bicycles, because they are officers of the Romanian Army, they are the officers of the Army who have a fantastic value. The Romanian Army invests in their training there. But they do not suffer at all, if this amount is reduced major, the Romanian military does not suffer anything, instead we gain almost half a million dollars in the budget”, declared Radu Miruţă.
The ministry needs to cut spending
The statement of the Minister of Defense comes in the context in which a representative of the Ministry of Finance proposed to decrease the food norm of the military in order to reduce expenses, according to HotNews sources. In the coalition meeting on Monday, Prime Minister Bolojan presented this option to the coalition leaders.
On Tuesday evening, Minister Miruță announced that the proposal to reduce the food ration for the military was rejected by the coalition.
The Minister of Defense explains why the cut in the food ratio failed: “From our experience with Mr. Ilie Bolojan, the arguments prevail”
“The food ration for the military has been in force since 1864 continuously. From 1864 to today, Romania has gone through many hard times, and yet the food ration of the military has not disappeared. Moreover, this food ration has not been updated since 2017. What would we do, abolish the military canteens? Because a good part, 75% of those who receive the food ration, eat in the units, in the garrisons where they are,” said the minister.
Now the Ministry of Defense must find ways to cut spending by 10 percent, according to the public administration reform project that was made public on Wednesday and is expected to be adopted early next week.
The decision taken by the leaders of the coalition, after a three and a half hour meeting on the reform of the administration, for which the PSD set conditions / In which areas did Bolojan accept no salary cuts
