Romania scrambled MIG fighter jets on Tuesday after detecting an “aerial surveillance” balloon in NATO’s airspace.
Romanian forces the “surveillance” target bears all the hallmarks of a weather balloon in their airspace on Tuesday afternoon.
Romania’s Ministry of National Defence (MND) issued a statement saying, “The aerial surveillance system of the Romanian Air Force detected on Tuesday, February 14, at around 12:30, a small aerial target, having the evolution characteristics similar to a weather balloon, which was evolving at an altitude of about 11,000 meters in the national airspace, in the South-East of Romania.
“The Romanian authorities applied all standard procedures from the moment the object was detected, and two MiG-21 LanceR aircraft of the Romanian Air Force from the Air Police combat service under NATO command took off from the 86th Air Base in Fetești, around 12:40, being directed to the area where the air target was reported.
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“The crews of the two aircraft did not confirm the presence of the aerial target, neither visually nor on the onboard radars.
“The aircraft were kept in the area for about 30 minutes, for the full clarification of the air situation, after which they returned to the air base.
“The Romanian Air Force constantly monitors, in cooperation with the Allied forces, the national airspace and the area in the vicinity.”
The British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is to review the UK’s security following a number of “airspace intrusions” of suspected Chinese air balloons which are appearing in various parts of the globe.
The Transport Minister Richard Holden has claimed it is “possible” that Chinese spy balloons have already entered the UK’s airspace.
Over the past week UFOs have been shot down over North America and on Sunday a fourth suspected Chinese spy balloon was blown up by fighter jets.
On Sunday Wallace said the UK will work with their allies to identify any threats that these UFOs may present.
The Defence Secretary said, “The UK and her allies will review what these airspace intrusions mean for our security.
“This development is another sign of how the global threat picture is changing for the worse.”
Holden told Sky News, “We need to be aware of that and the way it acts and behaves… and we’ve got to be really robust in our dealings with China.”
He was then asked if the Chinese spy balloons could already have flown over the UK, he said, “It’s possible.
“It’s also possible that – and I would think likely – that there will be people from the Chinese government trying to act as a hostile state.
“We saw it with Russia here in the UK with the Salisbury poisonings and other actions that they’ve taken.”
Holden added, “I think we’ve got to be realistic about the threat that these countries pose to the UK.
“They’re not interested in our democratic values, they’re not interested in standing up for human rights around the world.”
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