Romanian Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday (August 16) that an F-18 fighter jet, carrying out a NATO air patrol mission, shot down an unauthorized drone that had invaded Romanian airspace. This incident marks the fourth drone to be shot down for violating Romanian airspace this year.
According to Reuters, spokesperson for NATO’s Supreme Allied Command Europe, US Army Colonel Martin O’Donnell, stated that NATO forces are maintaining vigilance and are prepared to respond to any threats. He mentioned, “Further details of the current incident are still under investigation, but it appears that the drone was manufactured in Russia.”
The Romanian Ministry of Defense did not disclose the origin of the drone, only stating that it was detected by radar and entered Romanian airspace from the direction of Moldova at around 4:44 am local time, positioned approximately 24 kilometers north of the southeastern Romanian city of Galați.
The F-18 fighter jet involved in the mission belongs to the NATO forces stationed in Romania from Spain. The Romanian Ministry of Defense confirmed that the jet was authorized to open fire, and the drone was shot down at around 5:01 am local time. The wreckage of the downed drone is believed to have fallen in an uninhabited area between the Baleni and Cudalbi localities in Galați County.
Romania shares a 614-kilometer land border with Ukraine, a NATO member country. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Romania has reported several incidents of drones violating its airspace, alleging some of these events are linked to Russian military’s nighttime attacks on Ukraine.
In July of this year, Romanian F-16 fighter pilots shot down three suspected Russian-made drones that violated its airspace. Prior to this, Romania has experienced dozens of similar airspace violation incidents.
Furthermore, in May of this year, a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in Galați during the Russian military’s nighttime attacks on Ukraine, injuring two individuals.
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