A NATO air patrol consisting of two Spanish Air Force F-18 fighters shot down a drone that had violated Romanian airspace in the early hours of this Sunday. The surveillance systems of the Ministry of Defense of this Eastern European country detected at 4:44 AM (one hour less in mainland Spain) the entry of an object into their sky, coming from the Republic of Moldova, approximately 24 kilometers north of Galati, near the border with Ukraine.
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“An F-18 aircraft of the Spanish Air and Space Force, performing Air Police Combat Service at Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base 57 on a surveillance mission, established radar contact with the target and received authorization to attack it,” stated the Romanian Ministry of Defense in a message posted on Facebook. “The drone was successfully shot down by the F-18 aircraft at 05:01,” it continued. Authorities later located the aircraft in an unpopulated area between the towns of Baleni and Cudalbi.
“Romania defends its airspace and our allies are with us. Surveillance, rapid response, and the solidarity of allies are the concrete guarantees of our security,” said Defense Minister Radu Miruta, while congratulating the Spanish pilots for the shootdown and emphasizing that Romania is on the front line of the European Union’s defense.
The Spanish Ministry of Defense has confirmed the shootdown with a message on X, stating that “once again,” the Air Force “demonstrates its outstanding professionalism in defending European airspace.” “The pilots of Wing 12, who watch over the security of the eastern flank, have shot down a drone in Romania, demonstrating the commitment and training of our Armed Forces [FAS],” it added.
So far, the Romanian Ministry of Defense has not officially confirmed the origin of the drone, but a NATO spokesperson has stated that the device was apparently Russian. Romania has suffered numerous drone incursions into its airspace since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, due to the proximity of its territory to the combat zones.
The National Security Advisor of the Romanian Presidency, Marius Lazurca, thanked Spain in a message for protecting the airspace through the deployment of 200 Spanish military personnel, seven fighters, and three helicopters, stationed from the beginning of this month until December in Romania, within the framework of NATO.
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“Just one day after participating in the celebrations and exercises of the Romanian Navy Day, a Spanish Air Force F-18 Hornet has shot down a drone that had entered Romanian airspace. All our gratitude to Spain for participating in NATO Air Policing!” wrote Marius Lazurca on the X network.
The operation marks a new episode of tension on the eastern flank of the Atlantic Alliance. It is the fourth drone shot down over Romanian territory since the end of July.
In the previous three incidents, Romanian F-16 fighters were responsible for shooting down the devices. Since the start of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, a country with which Romania shares more than 600 kilometers of border, more than 30 drones have been recorded, more than half of them this year. The most serious episode occurred on May 20, when a Geran 2 device, of Russian origin, crashed into a residential block in Galati, a city of 250,000 inhabitants on the banks of the Danube, injuring a mother and her son.
The intervention of the Spanish fighters comes after another night of intense attacks between Russia and Ukraine. Russian bombings over Kiev have caused several large fires and left at least two injured, according to Ukrainian authorities. Meanwhile, Moscow claims that Ukraine launched more than 600 drones against the Moscow region during the night, causing three injuries.
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