NATO fighter jet shoots down drone over Romania

An F-18 fighter jet of the Spanish Air and Space Force patrolling Romanian airspace shot down an unidentified drone that violated the country's airspace on the night of 15-16 August.

Source: Romanian Ministry of National Defence

Details: The Romanian Defence Ministry said that at around 04:44 on Sunday, its surveillance systems detected an aerial asset that had entered Romanian airspace from Moldova, approximately 24 km north of the city of Galați.

An F-18 aircraft of the Spanish Air and Space Force, conducting a combat air patrol from the 57th Air Base at Mihail Kogălniceanu, established radar contact with the asset and received authorisation to shoot it down.

The fighter jet shot down the drone at 05:01 over an uninhabited area. Its debris is believed to have fallen between the settlements of Băleni and Cudalbi in Galați County.

The all-clear was given at 05:20.

Romania's acting National Defence Minister Radu Miruță congratulated the Spanish pilots and Romanian military personnel on the successful mission.

The defence minister wrote on Facebook that Romania was defending its airspace and that its allies stood with it, adding that vigilance, rapid response and allied solidarity were the concrete guarantees of the country's security.

This was the fourth occasion on which a drone that had violated Romanian airspace was shot down over the country.

Background:

• On 26 July, Romania shot down an airspace-violating drone from a fighter jet for the third consecutive day.
• Before that, Romanian President Nicușor Dan reported that a drone had been shot down 10 km west of Sfântu Gheorghe on 25 July.
• The first combat use of aircraft over Romania to shoot down such a UAV – later confirmed to have been a Shahed-type drone – took place on 24 July.
• These incidents were preceded by numerous cases of Russian drones entering Romanian territory and crashing there, mostly in areas along the Danube near the border, during Russian attacks targeting Ukrainian ports.

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