Bucharest: Romanian President Nicusor Dan said Saturday that Romania had shot down another drone after it violated the country’s airspace, marking the second such incident in two days.
The drone was downed about 10 km west of Sfantu Gheorghe in central Romania, Dan said.
Romania’s Ministry of National Defence said in a statement that its radar surveillance systems detected an unauthorised drone entering the eastern European country’s national airspace and flying in the border area with Ukraine, Xinhua News Agency reported.
“Two F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft of the Romanian Air Force intercepted the air target and executed standard identification and neutralisation procedures. The drone was safely shot down in an unpopulated area near the border,” the ministry said.
It added that the drone was brought down by the same pilot who had shot down the Shahed drone in Buzau County on Friday.
Dan said Friday that Romania shot down a drone breaching its airspace in Buzau County.
He said that the authorities are conducting investigations at the scene of the incident to establish all the circumstances in which the drone entered Romania’s airspace and to identify it.
“It is important to note that the area was uninhabited, which is why the pilot was able to fire from above,” Dan added.
Romania’s Ministry of National Defence said in a press release that its radar surveillance system detected an aerial target approximately 20 km east of Sulina. The track subsequently penetrated the national airspace. An F-16 fighter aircraft of the Romanian Air Force engaged the target with an air-to-air missile and neutralised it over an unpopulated area in the vicinity of Padina, Buzau County.
Two Italian Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, conducting NATO Air Policing Service, and two Romanian Air Force F-16 aircraft were scrambled to respond to the situation.
(IANS)
