Romania Scrambles Jets After Detecting Drone Signals in Airspace for Third Time in a Week

Romania's radar systems detected two separate signals, likely from drones, entering its national airspace. This marks the third such incident within a week.

This was reported by Reuters.

However, fighter jets scrambled in response were unable to locate the drones, the publication wrote citing Romania’s Defense Ministry statement made late Wednesday.

The signals were detected within an hour over the southeastern counties of Constanța and Tulcea, the latter of which borders Ukraine along the Danube River.

Two more incidents of breaching the Romanian airspace occurred within last week. 

An unidentified aerial object entered Romanian airspace late on October 19, prompting the Romanian military to scramble aircraft for interception.

Additionally, on October 17, residents of Constanța received a Ro-Alert message about potential falling objects, leading to the deployment of Romanian F-16 jets. 

Although fighter jets were scrambled, they were unable to locate the objects, and no crash sites were found. 

Romania, a member of both the European Union and NATO, shares a 650km (400-mile) border with Ukraine and has repeatedly seen fragments of Russian drones land on its territory as Russia continues its drone and missile attacks on Ukraine.

Romania has called on NATO to implement a “robust and coordinated” response to the repeated incursions of Russian drones and missiles into its airspace. The request was made by Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar during a meeting with NATO defense ministers in Bucharest.