Romania’s defense ministry reported on Sunday that an F-18 jet on a NATO air policing operation shot down a drone that had illegally entered Romanian national airspace.
This was the fourth unmanned aircraft shot down over Romania this year. U.S. Army Colonel Martin O’Donnell, a spokeswoman for NATO’s military headquarters, stated that the alliance is always vigilant and ready to defend itself against any threat.
“Additional details regarding Sunday’s incident remain under investigation, but the drone appears to be Russian,” he added. Romania, a NATO member, shares a land border with Ukraine that is 614 kilometers (381 miles) long.
Over the past four years, Romania has reported several Russian drone intrusions of its airspace, as well as mines floating in the Black Sea along important trade and energy lines.
The drone was discovered by radar when it entered the country from neighboring Moldova, 24 kilometers north of the southeastern Romanian city of Galati, according to Romania’s defense ministry, which did not disclose the drone’s origin.
The ministry stated in a statement that the F-18 jet, which was part of a Spanish NATO contingent stationed in Romania, “made radar contact with the target and received permission to engage” and that the drone was safely shot down at 5:01 a.m. (0201 GMT).
According to the ministry, pieces of the damaged drone seemed to have landed in an unoccupied area between two settlements.
After dozens of such incursions since the beginning of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Romanian F-16 fighter jet pilots shot down three Russian drones in July for the first time.
Two people were hurt when a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in Galati in May during a nocturnal strike on neighboring Ukraine.
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