Spanish F-18 shoots down drone over Romania

A Spanish F-18 fighter jet flying NATO air policing duty shot down a drone that crossed into Romanian airspace early Sunday, marking the fourth drone Romania has shot down this year, the country’s Ministry of National Defence said.

Romanian radar systems detected the aircraft entering national airspace at 4:44 a.m. local time, arriving from neighboring Moldova about 24 km (15 miles) north of Galați. Two Spanish F-18s from the Spanish Air and Space Force, already on alert as a precaution, were dispatched from the 57th Air Base “Mihail Kogălniceanu.” One of the jets established radar contact with the target and received approval to engage. The drone was shot down safely at 5:01 a.m.

“The drone was shot down safely at 05:01 am,” the ministry said.

The ministry did not identify the drone’s origin. A possible impact point for the wreckage was located between the villages of Băleni and Cudalbi in Galați County, in an area the ministry described as unpopulated. The air alert for Galați County was lifted at 5:20 a.m. No injuries or property damage were reported.

Romania’s defense minister, Radu Miruta, confirmed the intercept and credited both the Spanish pilots and the Romanian command center personnel who tracked the incursion, according to Euronews. Miruta said Romania is defending its airspace with the backing of its NATO allies, pointing to the country’s roughly 614-km (382-mile) land border with Ukraine as the reason it sits on what he called the front line of the alliance’s eastern defenses.

The incident is the fourth time Romania has shot down a drone this year. In July, Romanian F-16 pilots shot down three Russian drones breaching national airspace, the first time the country had taken that step since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. Earlier this year, a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in Galați during an overnight attack on targets across the border in Ukraine, injuring two people.

Romania has scrambled fighter jets in response to airspace incursions multiple times in recent months. Two Spanish F-18s were sent up last Thursday after an airborne object was detected near the river border with Ukraine; that drone spent about 12 minutes over Romanian territory before returning to Ukraine, prompting an SMS alert to residents of Tulcea County. A day later, a separate drone crossed into Romania undetected by radar because it was flying at very low altitude, according to Euronews.

Airspace violations have also been reported elsewhere along NATO’s eastern flank. On Friday, NATO said Italian fighter jets on its air policing mission shot down a drone that had entered Latvian airspace near Balvi. Poland and the Baltic states have reported similar breaches tied to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Romania’s parliament passed legislation this year authorizing its military to destroy, neutralize or take control of unidentified aircraft that illegally enter its airspace. The bill followed repeated incidents of Russian drones crossing into or crashing on Romanian territory since 2022. Gheorghita Vlad, Romania’s defense chief, had previously called for legal changes to give the military that authority.

The Ministry of National Defence said it is continuing to monitor the situation and is briefing allied structures in real time. The investigation into the drone’s origin and the cause of the incursion remains ongoing.