NATO Ally Scrambles F-16 After Drone Incursion

Romania shot down a drone on Sunday, according to officials, marking the third time in as many days NATO aircraft have shot down uncrewed aerial vehicles.

A Romanian F-16 fighter jet intercepted the drone at 10:13 a.m. local time close to the country’s border with southwestern Ukraine, said Romanian President Nicușor Dan.

Bucharest has frequently reported drone incursions from Ukraine when Russia bombards Ukrainian ports close to the Danube River, which splits Romanian soil from Ukraine.

Romania shares roughly 400 miles of land border with Ukraine.

Drones breaking into NATO airspace have not been treated as attacks on the alliance so far, meaning they have not triggered discussions over a collective response from all 32 members.

But the persistent incidents have pushed the alliance’s members along Europe’s eastern edge to quickly invest in anti-drone defenses.

Romania’s defense ministry said on Sunday the drone was shot down “safely” little over seven miles northeast of the port of Sulina, within Romania’s territorial waters.

Romanian authorities didn’t confirm whether the drone intercepted on Sunday was Russian-made, but Dan said it would raise the issue with Moscow after investigators determined whether the drone was a Russian weapon.

The Romanian president said it was “intolerable for the Russian Federation to continue violating Romania’s airspace, which is, at the same time, NATO airspace and European Union airspace.”

The previous day, Romanian officials said a drone had been taken out in an unpopulated area close to the border with Ukraine after it was picked up by radar systems at 8:22 a.m. local time.

The incident came a day after NATO said two Romanian F-16s and two Italian Eurofighter jets were scrambled under the alliance’s command on Friday to intercept a drone that had approached Romania’s airspace. Romanian investigators later said the drone was Russian-made.

Debris from the drone and the intercept missile landed close to two towns northeast of Bucharest, the Romanian defense ministry said. No casualties or injuries were reported.

This is a developing story and will be updated.