The Air Force went through a modernization plan in the 1990s and early 2000s, dropping the communist-era organization system in 1995 and adopting a NATO-compatible one instead as the country was preparing to join the Alliance.

The Romanian Air Force also includes locally built IAR 99 Șoim jets, in general only used for training of the young pilots.

In July 2023, following a Supreme Council of National Defense (CSAT) meeting, the plan of hosting an F-16 training center in Romania was approved.

[17][18] On 2 February 2022, the President of Romania stated the intent to purchase the fifth-generation F-35 joint strike fighter as part of its Air Force modernization.

[22] In 1818, during the reign of John Caradja, the prince of Wallachia, an unmanned hot air balloon was flown off Dealul Spirii in Bucharest.

20 June] 1874, Marius Willemot, the owner of the hydrogen balloon named "Mihai Bravul" [ro] flew together with Majors Iacob Lahovary, Constantin Poenaru and Dumitrescu over Bucharest.

The school, conducted by French flight instructors, had five hangars, bleachers for spectators and workshops where the Farman airplanes were built under license.

It was opened on 9 July 1910, led by the chief flight instructor and director of the school René Guillemin who was soon replaced by Michel-Paul Molla after an accident.

[25] Organized as such, the Romanian aviation participated in the Second Balkan War, becoming the first air arm to perform operations over an enemy capital city, with leaflet drop missions flown over Sofia.

[36] On the eve of Romania's entrance into the war in August 1916, only 24 out of the 44 aircraft that had been imported and assembled at Rezerva generală a aviației (RGA) were available.

[47] By 1936, the Air Force's aircraft were largely obsolete and the mounting political and military tensions in Europe led to calls for a restructuring plan of the ARR.

[48][49] When Romania, allied with Nazi Germany, went to war against the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, the ARR had 621 airplanes, including its locally made IAR 80 fighters.

[46] The air force accomplished hundreds of missions, contributing to Romania's recapture of Northern Bucovina and Bessarabia, which had been occupied by the Soviet Union a year earlier.

It represented a great step forward taking into account that it was the only jet fighter not made by the Soviets, the only one ever manufactured and operated by a Warsaw Pact country.

[58] On 14 May 1981, at 20:16, the Soviet spaceship Soyuz 40 was launched from Baikonur to perform a common Romanian-Soviet flight, with Lieutenant Dumitru Prunariu and Colonel Leonid Popov as commander on board.

In December 1989, just a few days before the Romanian revolution against communism began, MiG-29 aircraft entered the Air Force inventory.

[60] Due to financial constraints, being unable to purchase new fighers, the Romanian Air Force decided to invest in the upgrade of the MiG-21 fighters.

[64] Following its entry into the Partnership for Peace program in 1994, Romania started cooperating with other countries with the goal of eventually joining NATO.

[68] In February 2010, CSAT signed an agreement with the United States for missile defence under whose terms land-based SM-3 systems would be installed in Romania.

On 3 May 2011, the president of Romania Traian Băsescu announced the location for the SM-3 systems: former Air Force base Deveselu in the Olt County.

[69] The system includes 3 batteries with 24 SM-3 Block I rockets, manned by approximately 200 US soldiers (with a maximum of 500) initially under Romanian Air Force overall command.

[71][72] On the starting day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, two F-16s from the 53rd Fighter Squadron were sent to intercept a Sukhoi Su-27 of the Ukrainian Air Force that was approaching Romanian airspace.

[73] The Ukrainian Minister of Defence, Oleksiy Reznikov, quickly apologized for this event and requested the return of the airplane and its pilot.

After a maintenance team from Ukraine fixed the technical issues of the fighter,[74] the aircraft was returned without its weapons on 1 March, being escorted by two MiG-21 LanceRs to the border where other Ukrainian airplanes took over.

[75][76] On 2 March 2022, a MiG-21 LanceR was lost while on an air patrol inside Romanian airspace near Cogealac, 60 miles from the Ukrainian border.

[79] Shortly after, fake news claiming that the Romanian MiG was shot down by Ukrainian S-300 missile systems appeared.

The Romanian detachment succeeded the French Air Force Mirage 2000Cs of Escadron de Chasse 01.012 from Cambrai.

[84] The Carpathian Vipers detachment formed by four F-16s and 100 servicemen primarily from the 53rd Fighter Squadron and led by Commander Cosmin Vlad was established 14 March 2023.

[88] Between April and July, the Romanian fighters intercepted over 60 Russian Air Force aircraft and participated in various multinational exercises totaling 600 fight hours.

The detachment consisted of four IAR 330L helicopters and 120 personnel deployed on two rotations which took part in MEDEVAC, CASEVAC, troop and materiel transport, air patrol, and reconnaissance missions.