Romania shoots down 2 Russian jet-powered drones over its territory
Photo: Romanian Air Force F-16 fighter jets (Getty Images)
On the evening of Saturday, October 17, Romanian F-16 fighter jets shot down 2 jet-powered attack drones that had violated the country's airspace over the Black Sea, according to the Romanian Ministry of National Defense.
Romanian radars detected a group of aerial targets approximately 120 kilometers east of Zmiinyi Island. The drones were moving in a southwesterly direction.
Two F-16 fighter jets of the Romanian Air Force were scrambled from the 86th Air Base in Borcea to intercept the targets. The aircraft were on combat alert as part of an air policing mission and took off at 5:43 p.m.
The Romanian Ministry of Defense specifies that the downed targets were Geran-type attack drones equipped with jet engines.
The first drone was destroyed at 6:01 p.m. southeast of the city of Sulina. Before that, it had been in Romanian airspace for two minutes.
The second drone was shot down at 6:05 p.m. east of Sulina. According to the ministry, it had been in the country's airspace for five minutes.
Drones have repeatedly approached the Romanian border
The Romanian Ministry of Defense also reports that, during the week leading up to this incident, radars detected aerial targets eight times moving in Ukrainian airspace near the border with Romania.
In four of these cases, the drones briefly entered Romanian airspace.
In addition, during this period, several merchant ships were struck by drones in the Black Sea. Some of the attacks occurred in Romanian territorial waters.
On October 15, two chemical tankers caught fire in Romanian territorial waters following Russian drone attacks. According to Romanian authorities, seven crew members went missing from the San Marino-flagged vessel Wine Trader, while five others were rescued.
On October 2, an object resembling a drone crashed in Romania near the village of Plauru in Tulcea County. A fire broke out after the crash.
