Two Spanish F-18 fighter jets were scrambled after a mystery aerial target entered Romanian airspace overnight, triggering a major military alert. Romania’s Ministry of National Defence said its radar surveillance system detected the unidentified target manoeuvring near Chilia Veche, close to the river border, on Saturday night.
Overnight alert and response
The incident prompted the National Military Command Centre to alert emergency officials, with an RO-Alert warning sent to residents in northern Tulcea County at 11.32pm. Two F-18 aircraft from the Spanish Air and Space Forces, which were on Enhanced Air Policing duty, took off alongside an IAR-330 SOCAT helicopter from the Romanian Air Force to monitor the situation.
Radar signals then showed the aerial target entering Romanian national airspace near Chilia Veche, where the ministry said it followed “for a few minutes a route almost parallel to the Chilia arm”. The signal was then lost in the Pardina area and the alert ended at 12.48am.
Recent drone incident
It comes just days after a Russian drone crashed in Solca, near the Ukraine border, after Putin's forces ramped up attacks with a fresh wave of drone and missile strikes on Kyiv earlier this week. Romania's Ministry of Defence said at the time the drone was in "national airspace" for around four minutes before falling near the town in Suceava County "without causing casualties or material damage". The incident prompted school closures in the area while both Romanian and Polish fighter jets scrambled to monitor the situation.
Ministry statement
On last night's mystery aerial target, the Ministry said in a post on X: "On the night of September 26, the radar surveillance system of the Ministry of National Defense detected an aerial target maneuvering in the area of the Chilia Veche locality, near the river border." The National Military Command Center notified the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations regarding the implementation of population alert measures in the northern part of Tulcea County, and at 23:32, an RO-Alert message was transmitted."
"Two F-18 aircraft of the Spanish Air and Space Forces, engaged in Enhanced Air Policing combat service, and an IAR-330 SOCAT helicopter of the Romanian Air Force, took off to monitor the situation. According to radar signals, the aerial target entered national airspace near Chilia Veche, following for a few minutes a route almost parallel to the Chilia arm. The radar signal with the target was lost in the Pardina area. The air alert ended at 00:48."
