Spanish F-18 shoots down drone that violated Romanian airspace
The Romanian Ministry of Defence said the Spanish jet engaged the target after radar contact; debris reportedly fell between two villages near Galați.
A Spanish F-18 fighter taking part in a NATO air policing mission shot down a drone that violated Romanian airspace early this morning, the Romanian Ministry of Defence said.
The ministry said the aircraft had detected the unmanned aerial vehicle after it crossed from Moldova and engaged it after receiving clearance. "The Spanish F-18 'established radar contact with the target and was granted permission to engage it'," the ministry statement said.
"The drone was safely shot down at 05:01," the statement added.
Location and immediate aftermath
Romanian radars registered the drone entering the country from neighbouring Moldova at a point about 24 kilometres north of the southeastern Romanian city of Galați. According to initial reports, wreckage fell in an uninhabited area between two villages. The defence ministry did not specify the drone's origin.
This marks the fourth unmanned aerial vehicle shot down over Romania since the start of the year. Romania, a NATO member, has a 614-kilometre land border with Ukraine and its airspace has been repeatedly violated by Russian drones since the invasion that began in February 2022. Floating naval mines have also been found in the Black Sea near key shipping and energy routes.
In July, Romanian pilots operating F-16 fighters shot down three Russian drones that entered the country's airspace — the first time Bucharest destroyed such aircraft after dozens of incursions over more than four years of the war in neighbouring Ukraine. Earlier this year a Russian drone crashed into a residential building in Galați during a night strike on Ukraine, injuring two people.
Photo: press material from the event
