NATO fighter jet shoots down drone breaching Romania’s airspace

A Spanish F-18 fighter jet pilot on a NATO air policing mission shot down a drone illegally breaching Romanian national airspace, the fourth unmanned aircraft the country has shot down this year, Romania’s defense ministry said on Sunday. The NATO state shares a 614-km (382-mile) land border with Ukraine and has seen Russian drones repeatedly breach its airspace over the last four years, as well as mines floating in the Black Sea across key trade and energy routes. The ministry did not specify the origin of the drone, saying its radars detected it entering the country from neighboring Moldova, some 24 km (15 miles) north of the southeastern Romanian city of Galati. The F-18 jet “made radar contact with the target and received permission to engage it,” the ministry said in a statement. “The drone was shot down safely at 05:01 am.” The ministry said the fragments appeared to have fallen in an uninhabited area between two villages. This is a developing story and will be updated.

Missing media or need the complete publisher report? Open CNN ↗