The Romanian Minister of Defense, Radu Miruta, communicated this Sunday that two Spanish fighter jets, integrated into the NATO mission, neutralized an unidentified drone after it violated Romanian airspace during a routine surveillance operation.
"At 04:44, the target was detected entering Romanian national airspace, 24 kilometers north of Galati. At that moment, two Spanish F-18 fighter jets, which had already been put on alert as a precautionary measure, received authorization to intervene," confirmed the Romanian leader in a post on his social media.
According to Miruta's account, the unmanned aircraft — of which he did not detail its origin — was located, intercepted, and subsequently destroyed in an area between the towns of Baleni and Cudalbi, in the southeast of the country, very close to the border with Moldova.
"Congratulations to the Spanish pilots and the Romanian military personnel at the command center for a successful mission! Romania is defending its airspace, and our allies are by our side. Surveillance, rapid response, and allied solidarity: these are the concrete guarantees of our security," highlighted the Defense official.
Romania, situated "on the front line of defense of the European Union" according to Miruta himself, shares a land border of about 614 kilometers with Ukraine and has witnessed firsthand how Russian drones have intruded into its airspace on several occasions since the beginning of the military offensive against Kiev in February 2022.