Romania scrambled two F-16 fighter planes from the Borcea airbase early Monday morning, November 4th, after noticing “groups of drones” approaching the country’s airspace over the Black Sea, the defense ministry said in a statement, cited by the local news agency Agerpress.
According to the statement, the drones took part in a series of overnight attacks on civilian and infrastructural targets in the southwest Ukrainian Odessa Oblast, close to the border of Tulcea county, Romania. Those living in the area were warned of “the possibility of falling objects” through emergency alerts on their phones.
Although the radars didn’t pick up any crossings in the end, and the jets were recalled in an hour, the Ministry of Defense said it searched the area in the morning for drones and debris.
While there was no violation of Romanian airspace this time, accidental entries happen every other month and are making the NATO country increasingly concerned. Since the beginning of the war, Romania registered at least 18 drones briefly entering its airspace before leaving or crashing on its soil.
Last month, an object—presumably a Russian drone—entered Romanian airspace 14 kilometers into the country before leaving after 20 minutes. The air force immediately dispatched four planes to monitor the aircraft and was later praised by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte for the quick response.
Several drones have also crashed in Romania, most recently an Iranian-made Shahed drone in early October. The drone was hit by Ukrainian air defense and the wreckage landed inside Romania, a kilometer from the Ukrainian border.
In response to these two incidents, the Romanian government submitted an emergency amendment to the Parliament which, if passed, will allow the air force to take control of or shoot down any aircraft—manned or unmanned—that enters the airspace if deemed dangerous, without further MoD authorization.
National security experts claim the new law would not threaten escalation, because it is only about efficiently defending the country’s own territory and does not allow for any strikes against drones still outside the country’s airspace.
