Romania scrambled two F-16 jets on Saturday afternoon and shot down two drones that breached its airspace over territorial waters, the country's Ministry of Defence said.
The ministry said a "group of aerial targets" was detected heading southwest from a location 120 kilometres east of Snake Island. Two of these targets entered Romanian airspace in quick succession, one at 5.59pm and another at 6.01pm local time, and were both engaged and shot down by the military aircraft.
Incident details
A press release by the Ministry of Defence read: "Two Romanian Air Force F-16 aircraft, conducting Air Policing missions, were scrambled from the 86th Air Base Borcea at 17:43, after radar surveillance systems detected a group of aerial targets flying approximately 120 kilometres east of Snake Island, heading southwest. At 17:59, the first target entered Romanian airspace and was shot down by one of the F-16 aircraft at 18:01.
"A second target entered Romanian airspace at 18:01 and was shot down by the other F-16 aircraft at 18:05. Both aerial targets were identified as drones and were shot down over Romanian territorial waters."
It was not immediately clear where the drones had come from.
Official response
Defense Minister Radu Miruta provided further information on the incident. He wrote on Facebook: "Two drones were engaged and shot down a few minutes ago by Romanian military pilots over the Black Sea, moments after they had illegally entered our country.
An official said the country will discuss the incident at a North Atlantic Council meeting on Tuesday.
