Romania scrambles fighter jets after drone incursion

Romania deployed four fighter jets on Thursday after a small flying object, believed to be a drone, entered national airspace up to 14 kilometers inland in the southeastern county of Constanta, according to the defense ministry.

"The radar signal indicated Romania’s land border was crossed at around 1600 GMT," the ministry said in a statement, adding the drone was first detected heading for Romania over the Black Sea, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.

Romania scrambled two F-16 fighter jets and two Spanish F-18s which are carrying out air policing missions in the country for the rest of the year. The pilots did not see the drone.

Residents of Constanta county were warned to take cover.

Army personnel will search for a potential crash site on Friday morning, the ministry said.

In early September, Romania and Latvia both had their airspace breached by Russian drones, prompting worries of escalation and defence ministers from NATO's eastern flank collectively called for a robust coordinated response from the alliance to drone airspace breaches.

Romania, which shares a 650-km (400-mile) border with Ukraine, has had Russian drone fragments fall onto its territory repeatedly over the past year and a half as Moscow attacks Ukrainian port infrastructure.

News.Az