Military air show in Busteni, Romania, on August 26, 2025: The intruding drone is said to have been shot down with such an F-16.Image: keystone
The Romanian Air Force shot down a foreign drone in its own airspace, the authorities said.
July 24, 2026, 3:53 p.mJuly 24, 2026, 3:53 p.m
According to the Ministry of Defense in Bucharest, the Romanian Air Force shot down a foreign drone that had entered the airspace of the NATO and EU country.
The pilot of the F-16 fighter jet used a missile to eliminate the intruding object over uninhabited areas near Padina in Buzau County, eastern Romania, the ministry said on its website. According to the Mediafax news agency, it was the first downing of a drone in Romanian airspace.
The ministry initially did not provide any information about the origin of the flying object. Romania has a border of around 600 kilometers with Ukraine, which is attacked by Russia.
In the past, several dozen Russian drones had entered Romanian airspace. In order to be able to shoot them down, Bucharest only created the legal basis last year. There is also concern that debris from downed aircraft could endanger the population on the ground.
As the Ministry of Defense also announced, two Italian fighter jets and another Romanian F-16 took off from the Fetesti air force base in the southeast of the country as part of the operation on Friday. The population on the ground had been warned about the danger of falling debris.
Defense Minister Radu Miruta congratulated the pilots on the mission. “Through their professionalism, prudence and quick reaction, they neutralized a drone that had entered Romanian airspace without authorization,” he wrote on his Facebook page. (sda/dpa)