Romanian F-16s shot down two drones over the country's territorial waters on 17 October after radar systems detected targets approaching from east of Snake Island. The defence ministry said the drones entered national airspace at 17:59 and 18:00 local time and were destroyed minutes later southeast and east of Sulina. [1]
Defence Minister Radu Miruță said the aircraft were probably Russian-made Geran-4 drones travelling at about 450 kilometres per hour, describing the action as Romania's first interception of that high-speed type. The identification was the minister's assessment; the defence ministry confirmed they were Geran-family attack drones. [1] [2]
ContextForeign Minister Oana Țoiu said NATO's North Atlantic Council would discuss Black Sea defence and deterrence on 20 October. The incident followed a series of attacks on commercial ships near Romania and Bulgaria and came while Romanian authorities continued searching for seven missing crew members from a tanker struck earlier in the week. [2]