A Romanian Air Force F-16 fighter jet shot down a drone that had entered Romania’s airspace on Friday morning, marking the first time the country has destroyed an aerial intruder over its own territory. The decision to engage the target was taken by NATO’s Combined Air Operations Centre in Torrejón, Spain.
According to EUalive’s media partner Espress, Romanian Ministry of National Defence (MApN) officials confirmed in a press conference that the drone was classified as a “hostile” element by the NATO command in Torrejón and that the order to shoot it down was issued from there.
President Nicușor Dan announced the incident shortly after it occurred, stating that a Romanian pilot flying an F-16 had downed the drone around 11:00 local time. “We had a drone in the airspace. It was shot down a few minutes ago, around 11:00, by a Romanian pilot on an F-16,” he said. Dan underlined that the drone was over an uninhabited area near the locality of Padina in Buzău County, allowing the pilot to fire safely from above.
Radar systems of the Romanian Ministry of Defence first detected the aerial target at 09:39, approximately 20 km east of Sulina on the Black Sea coast. It entered national airspace and followed a trajectory towards Brăila, Fetești and Buzău. Two Italian Air Force Eurofighter Typhoons, deployed at Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base under NATO’s Air Policing mission, scrambled at 09:48. Two Romanian F-16s from the 86th Air Base at Fetești took off later, at 10:56.
The Italian jets attempted an engagement but missed. A Romanian F-16 subsequently locked onto the target and destroyed it with a missile at 11:02 over the uninhabited area near Padina.
Pilots who visually identified the drone reported that it was of Shahed type – the Iranian-designed kamikaze drones (also known as Geran-2 in Russian service) that Russia has extensively used against Ukraine. Officials stressed that the drone was not heading towards Fetești Air Base or Bucharest.
The overnight period preceding the incident had already been marked by intense hostile activity near Romanian airspace, particularly in the Odesa area, with repeated air-raid alerts.
NATO’s Allied Air Command later described the operation as a successful multinational effort under alliance command and control, underlining that NATO remains ready to respond to any potential air threats around the clock to protect Allied territory and populations.
Investigations into the wreckage and the precise origin of the drone are ongoing. The incident is the first confirmed case of a NATO member state shooting down a drone deep inside its own airspace since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The article in Romanian by EUalive’s partner Espress.ro can be found here.
Caption: A Romanian F-16 [X account of the Ministry of Defence of Romania]