Two Spanish F-18 fighter jets were scrambled overnight after an unidentified aerial target entered Romanian airspace, triggering an emergency warning to residents near the country’s border with Ukraine.
Romania’s Ministry of National Defence said its radar surveillance system detected the target manoeuvring near Chilia Veche in the Danube Delta on Saturday night, close to the river frontier with Ukraine.
The incident prompted Romania’s National Military Command Centre to alert emergency authorities, with an RO-Alert warning issued to residents in northern Tulcea county at 11.32pm.
Two F-18 aircraft operated by the Spanish Air and Space Forces, deployed in Romania as part of NATO’s Enhanced Air Policing mission, were scrambled alongside an IAR-330 SOCAT helicopter from the Romanian Air Force.
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The aircraft were tasked with monitoring the unidentified contact as it approached and subsequently crossed into Romanian national airspace.
According to radar data released by the Romanian defence ministry, the target entered national airspace near Chilia Veche and followed “for a few minutes a route almost parallel to the Chilia arm”.
The radar signal was subsequently lost in the Pardina area, with the air alert ending at 12.48am.
The ministry said: “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.”
It added that the National Military Command Centre had notified emergency authorities and that an RO-Alert message was transmitted at 23:32.
“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.”
The ministry said that, 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.”
Romania has faced a growing series of aerial incidents along its frontier with Ukraine as Russia continues its war against its neighbour.
Just days earlier, Romanian authorities said a Russian drone had entered the country’s national airspace before crashing near Solca in Suceava county.
The ministry said that drone had remained in Romanian airspace for around four minutes before falling without causing casualties or material damage. The incident prompted local school closures and the scrambling of Romanian and Polish fighter aircraft.
The latest incident is particularly sensitive because Chilia Veche lies close to Ukraine’s Danube frontier, an area repeatedly exposed to the consequences of Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure.
Romania has reported several similar alerts in recent weeks. On September 24, its defence ministry said an aerial target entered Romanian airspace in the north of Botoșani county, prompting Romanian F-16s to scramble. Spanish F-18s were also deployed after other aerial targets were detected near Chilia Veche.
Earlier this month, Spanish F-18s were scrambled after another target crossed into Romanian airspace, while on August 13 Romanian authorities reported an aerial target penetrating approximately 2km into national territory near Pardina before leaving towards Ukraine.
The incidents underline the increasingly difficult air-defence environment facing Nato’s eastern flank, where Russian strikes against Ukraine can take place only kilometres from allied territory.
Romania has previously identified debris from Russian-made Geran-2 attack drones following incidents on its territory, although there was no immediate indication that the unidentified target detected overnight was Russian or that it was a drone.
For Bucharest, the challenge is therefore not simply identifying individual incursions but maintaining sufficient surveillance and rapid-response capacity along a frontier exposed to an active war.
The presence of Spanish F-18s under NATO’s Enhanced Air Policing mission provides an additional layer of that response, allowing allied aircraft to be launched alongside Romanian assets when unidentified contacts approach the country’s airspace.
The latest alert ended without reported casualties or damage. But the repeated need to scramble fighter aircraft and warn civilians illustrates how Russia’s war in Ukraine continues to push security risks beyond the battlefield and towards NATO territory.
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