Romanian Air Force shoots down unauthorised drone with F-16 Fighting Falcon over Romanian airspace

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The Romanian Air Force neutralised a drone a few hours ago after it entered national airspace without authorisation. According to Romania’s Ministry of Defence, the unmanned aircraft was brought down by an air-to-air missile fired from one of the F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters placed on alert.

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Detection and track across Romanian airspace

In its statement, the Romanian Ministry of Defence said the drone was detected by the Romanian Armed Forces’ air-surveillance system at 09:39 (local time), roughly 20 kilometres east of Sulina, near the Black Sea coast.

After crossing into Romanian airspace, the unmanned system maintained a route between the towns of Sulina, Brăila, Fetești and Buzău, prompting an immediate response from the relevant authorities and military assets.

Italian and Romanian fighters on alert

Once air-defence procedures were activated, both Romania and NATO launched interceptor aircraft. For the Alliance, two Italian Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon fighters took off from the “Mihail Kogălniceanu” Air Base. These aircraft are part of the Italian detachment currently assigned to NATO’s Air Policing mission.

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In parallel, the Romanian Air Force scrambled two F-16 Fighting Falcon combat aircraft from the 86th Air Base at Fetești, which then tracked and monitored the drone’s flight.

Air-to-air engagement near Padina

Following the pursuit and a threat assessment, one of the Romanian F-16s fired an air-to-air missile at 11:02 (local time), downing the unidentified drone. The neutralisation of the unmanned aerial vehicle required precautionary steps to protect the public and prevent material damage.

Once the drone flew over an uninhabited area near Padina, the F-16 pilot moved to eliminate the threat.

For now, Romanian authorities have not released further details on the drone’s model or its possible origin, nor have they said whether wreckage was recovered that could help determine where it came from.

Cover image for illustration purposes. Credit: Romanian Ministry of Defence

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