Commander of the 110th Communications and Informatics Center

Captain engineer
Valentin – Cătălin VLAD

Captain Vlad was born on February 2, 1975 in Constanța, Constanța County.

Between 1989 and 1993, he attended the Military High School "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" in Constanța, and in 1998, he graduated as head of promotion - specialty "Weapons under water", Naval Academy „Mircea cel Batran” from Constanța.

Between 1998 and 2010, captain Vlad performed combat and staff training functions, according to his career development, aboard the corvette ”Am. Petre Bărbuneanu ”(260) and the frigate „Mărășești” (F-111), as well as in the Coastal Missile Division, Fleet Command and Naval Operational Command.

In the period 2010 - 2011 he attended the courses of the Master's Degree in Joint Armed Forces - Naval Forces within the National Defense University „Carol I”, and upon graduation he assumed command of the corvette 264 „Cam. Eustațiu Sebastian”, with whom in 2012 he was deployed within the Black Sea Naval Cooperation Group - BLACKSEAFOR.

From 2013 to 2015, he served as Battle Watch Captain at the NATO Maritime Command (MARCOM) Maritime Operations Command Center in Northwood, UK.

After completing the mission within MARCOM, captain Vlad was appointed Chief of Intelligence (2015-2016) and Chief of Operations (2016-2020) in the 56th Frigate Fleet, respectively the Fleet Command in Constanța.

Between December 2016 and June 2017, captain Vlad was nominated to serve as Chief of Staff of the NATO Permanent Naval Group no. 2 (SNMG-2) during its deployment in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, to ensure NATO's combat and immediate response capability and to carry out missions under Operation Sea Guardian (OSG) and to combat illegal migration Aegean Activity ”(AEG). In appreciation of the professionalism with which he carried out his mission, the group's commander, German Rear Admiral Axel Deertz, praised him with the highest rating "oustanding" and awarded him the decoration of the German Naval Forces - "Gold Badge".

In 2020, captain Vlad continued to represent Romania and the Romanian Naval Forces with professionalism and responsibility under the flag of the North Atlantic Alliance, being the first Romanian naval officer appointed to lead a permanent NATO combat group, after having previously coordinated the training the General Staff and the master ship for the execution of this task.

Between January and June 2020, captain Vlad, together with the international staff, led the NATO Permanent Mine Action Group no. 2 (SNMCMG-2) aboard the first Romanian ship SNF flag ship – Minelayer 274 ”Vam. Constantin Bălescu ”, during its deployment in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, to ensure NATO’s immediate fighting and reaction capacity.

In order to carry out the task entrusted to him with professionalism and responsibility, even in the exceptional conditions imposed by the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, at the proposal of Commander MARCOM, English Vice Admiral Keith Blount, VLAD Commander was awarded the highest distinction Meritorious Service Medal ”.

Starting with December 15, 2020, captain Vlad is in charge of the 110 Communications and Informatics Center "Vice Admiral Engineer Grigore Marteș".

In order to improve his professional training throughout his career, captain Vlad graduated in various forms of training in the country and abroad, such as: the in-depth course "Integrated Naval Weapons Systems" (Constanța, 2002), the master's degree "Maritime and multimodal transport management" (Constanța, 2007), the course “Operations in support of peace” (Bucharest, 2004), the course “NATO Orientation” (Bucharest, 2005), the course “Orientation on the implementation of arms control” (Oberammergau / Germany, 2005), the course of “Head of Maritime Operations Department” (Newport / USA, 2006), course on “Legal Framework of Maritime Operations” (Newport / USA, 2006), course of “Joint Maritime Operations Centers” (Oberammergau / Germany, 2014), College Naval Command and Marine Staff (Newport / USA, 2009),the master's degree in "Joint Armed Forces - Naval Forces" (Bucharest, 2011) and the postgraduate training course "Management of information resources for management personnel" (Brasov, 2017).

Throughout his career, he has served as a Surface Combat Officer, Liaison Officer, Staff Officer, Ship Commander, Chief of Staff and Naval Group Commander in a variety of bilateral exercises, missions and operations. , regional, international and allies, such as: “Sea Guardian” (2017, 2020), the activity to combat illegal migration in the Mediterranean “Aegean Activity” (2017), BLACKSEAPARTNERSHIP (1998), BLACKSEAFOR (2005, 2007, 2010, 2012 ), COOPERATIVE PARTNER (1999, 2000, 2003), NATO SUMMIT (2004), NIRIIS (2007), CERTEX (2010), POSEIDON (2019), RESCUE EAGLE (1998) and SEA SHIELD (2016, 2018, 2019).

As a sign of appreciation, during his career, he was awarded the following distinctions: Emblem of Merit "In the Service of the Romanian Army" 3rd class, Honorary Sign "In the Service of the Fatherland" for 15 years of activity, Emblem of Honor of the Naval Forces, Honorary Sign “In the Service of the Fatherland” for 20 years of activity, “Golden Maritime Badge” of the German Naval Forces, Distinction „Man of the Year 2017”- 2nd place in the “Officer of the Year” section of Romanian Naval Forces, Honorary Emblem of Communications and Informatics, Honorary Emblem of the Romanian Army, Honorary Emblem of the General Staff, Merit Emblem “In the Service of Peace” class II, NATO Meritorious Medal, distinction "Man of the Year 2020" - 1st place in the section "Officer of the Year" in the Romanian Naval Forces and the title of "Veteran of theaters of operations".

Captain Vlad speaks fluently English language.