A Spanish F-18 fighter jet shot down a drone in Romanian airspace early Sunday, the fourth such shootdown over the NATO country in under a month.
Romania intercepted an unmanned drone violating its airspace on the morning of Sunday, August 16, DR reports. According to the Romanian Ministry of National Defense, the drone was destroyed by a Spanish F-18 about 15 minutes after it was detected.
The ministry said the drone entered Romania through Moldovan airspace. The fighter jet was already airborne on airspace surveillance as part of a NATO mission. Local residents described a loud bang, and the wreckage came down in an uninhabited area.
AeroTime reports that Romanian surveillance systems detected the aerial target at 04:44 local time and that it was destroyed at 05:01, roughly 24 kilometers north of Galați. Debris is believed to have fallen between the villages of Băleni and Cudalbi, with no injuries or damage reported. An air alert in Galați County was lifted at 05:20, according to the same outlet.
Summarizing the ministry statement, Caliber.az notes that the F-18 belonged to the Spanish Air and Space Force and was flying a combat air patrol from the 57th Air Base at Mihail Kogălniceanu. The jet established radar contact and received authorization before firing. The ministry has not said where the drone came from.
NATO calls the drone’s origin unclear
NATO spokesperson Colonel Martin O’Donnell said the drone appears to be Russian, while stressing that details remain under investigation, according to Ukrainska Pravda. The same outlet reports that Foreign Minister Oana Țoiu said Bucharest had notified its NATO allies about the incident.
Acting Defense Minister Radu-Dinel Miruță wrote on Facebook that vigilance, rapid reactions and solidarity from Romania’s allies are decisive for the country’s security. He described Romania as being in the front line of the European Union’s defense. Romania shares a border of more than 600 kilometers with Ukraine.
At the end of July, three drones were shot down in Romanian airspace, and the Defense Ministry attributed them to Russia. In a press release, the ministry said more than 100 attacks have been recorded on Ukrainian territory near the Romanian border since the start of the war. It counted 33 cases of Russian drones entering national airspace, most recently on July 26, 2026, and around 50 cases in which drones or fragments were identified on Romanian soil.
RBC-Ukraine reports that Sunday’s shootdown was the fourth unmanned aerial vehicle Romania has downed since the beginning of 2026. DR notes several recent incidents of illegal drone activity in and around the airspace of EU and NATO countries, including Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Finland. According to the European Parliament, those countries have been subjected to Russian airspace violations.
