Romanian F-16s shoot down two drones over territorial waters

Romanian F-16 fighter jets have shot down two drones over the country’s territorial waters. According to Romania’s Ministry of Defence, both aircraft entered Romanian airspace in the evening and were destroyed within a few minutes of each other.

The ministry said on its website that the first target crossed the airspace border at 17:59, and one of the F-16s shot it down at 18:01. The second entered at 18:01, and the other fighter downed it at 18:05. Both targets were identified as drones.

The ministry did not say where the drones came from; details are promised later. Because of Russia’s war in Ukraine, drones have repeatedly strayed into Romanian airspace in recent months. Some have been shot down, others crashed on their own.

Dozens of airspace violations

According to Romanian authorities, in mid-October at least 53 airspace violations had been recorded since the start of the war, most of them this year.

In October, a series of drone attacks hit several merchant ships in the Black Sea off the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria. On 5 October, a bulk carrier sank after a drone strike in Romania’s exclusive economic zone, killing two people. On 13 October, another vessel sank off the Bulgarian coast, with more than ten sailors missing. New attacks on 15 October hit tankers near the mouth of the Danube, after which several sailors went missing.

Neighbouring Moldova also reports frequent drone incursions into its airspace and finds of drone debris. During Russian strikes on western Ukraine, fighter jets regularly scramble in Poland as well, whose army recently simplified the rules for shooting down objects that violate its airspace. Pilots no longer need to fly up to the intruder to see it with their own eyes: they can open fire based on radar data.

Source: novinky.cz