On Thursday evening, Romania's radar systems detected a small flying object, likely a drone, that entered about 6 km into the country's airspace in southeastern Tulcea county, quoted by News.bg.
The Defense Ministry reported that the object was detected at around 19:04 GMT (21:04 local time) in the area of Cilia Veche, located 15 km east of the settlement. Despite the immediate response, the signal disappeared just five minutes later, at 19:09 GMT, without any collision of the object with Romanian territory being detected.
Alarming drone incidents
This is not the first case of violation of Romanian airspace in the past year and a half. Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, fragments of Russian drones have repeatedly fallen on Romanian territory, shot down as a result of Moscow's attacks on Ukrainian port infrastructure on the Danube River. In view of this, Romania has been placed on heightened surveillance alert, especially in areas close to the 650 km long Ukrainian border.
Air safety and authorities' response
Following the detection of the object, the local population in the Tulcea region was warned to seek shelter while the Romanian Air Force began a procedure to scramble fighter jets. However, the signal was lost too quickly before a full assessment of the situation could be made. According to the Ministry of Defense, there is no information about a possible collision of the object with the country's territory, which has alleviated concerns about a direct threat to civilian life.
Problems with surveillance systems
In October 2023 Romania's radar systems also detected drones violating its airspace several times, but fighter jets failed to detect the objects, and no locations of possible collisions were identified. Authorities at the time suspected that some of these incidents may have been the result of cyberattacks that disrupted the country's radar and surveillance systems.
Border security concerns
In light of these incidents and the increased presence of drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles in the region, Romania continues to strengthen security measures in border areas and consult with its NATO allies on additional means to protect its airspace.