A Spanish F-18 fighter jet operating under a NATO air policing mission has shot down a drone that illegally breached Romanian airspace, marking the fourth unmanned aircraft destroyed by Romania this year, the Romanian Ministry of Defence said on Sunday.
The incident underscores growing security concerns along Romania’s border with Ukraine, as Russian drone attacks and airspace violations have repeatedly spilled over into neighbouring NATO territory since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Romania shares a 614-kilometre (382-mile) land border with Ukraine and has recorded repeated incursions by drones over the past four years. The country has also faced security risks in the Black Sea, including mines drifting across important trade and energy routes.
According to the Romanian Defence Ministry, military radar detected the unidentified drone entering Romanian airspace from neighbouring Moldova, approximately 24 kilometres (15 miles) north of the south-eastern city of Galati.
The Spanish F-18 fighter, deployed as part of NATO’s air policing operation, subsequently established radar contact with the drone and was authorised to engage the target.
“The drone was shot down safely at 05:01 am,” the ministry said in a statement.
The Defence Ministry added that the drone’s fragments appeared to have fallen in an uninhabited area between two villages, with no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
Romanian authorities did not identify the origin of the drone, leaving open the question of whether it was linked to Russia’s ongoing military operations in neighbouring Ukraine.
The latest incident comes after Romanian F-16 fighter jets shot down three Russian drones that had entered the country’s airspace in July. Those engagements represented the first time Romanian fighter pilots had destroyed Russian drones following dozens of reported airspace incursions since the beginning of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier this year, a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in Galati during an overnight Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine, injuring two people.
The repeated incidents have heightened concerns in Romania and across NATO’s eastern flank over the potential for the war in Ukraine to spill into allied territory.
Romania’s participation in NATO air policing operations, alongside allied aircraft such as Spain’s F-18, is intended to strengthen surveillance and rapid-response capabilities along the alliance’s eastern borders.
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