Romanian F-16s shoot down two drones over the Black Sea off Sulina

Two Romanian Air Force F-16s shot down two drones over the Black Sea off the Danube Delta town of Sulina on Saturday, Oct. 17, Romania's Ministry of National Defense (MApN) said. The ministry said the drones were downed "over Romania's territorial waters, in national airspace".

The ministry identified the targets as "jet-powered attack drones of the Geran family". It did not say where the drones came from.

How the intercept unfolded

MApN radar detected a group of aerial targets about 120 kilometers east of Snake Island heading southwest, the ministry said. Two F-16s on air policing duty took off from the 86th Air Base at Borcea, near Fetești, at 10:43 a.m. ET (5:43 p.m. local time).

The first target entered Romanian airspace at 10:59 a.m. ET (5:59 p.m.) and was shot down southeast of Sulina at 11:01 a.m. ET (6:01 p.m.), MApN said. The second entered at 11:01 a.m. ET (6:01 p.m.) and was shot down east of Sulina at 11:05 a.m. ET (6:05 p.m.). Each F-16 downed one drone.

Interim Defense Minister Radu Miruță wrote on Facebook that the first drone fell about 25 kilometers southeast of Sulina and the second about 20 kilometers east of the town, HotNews.ro reported. Official accounts differ slightly on how long the second drone was in Romanian airspace. MApN and Miruță said five minutes, and Foreign Minister Oana Țoiu said four.

Diplomatic response

"The Black Sea will be safe again," Țoiu wrote in a post on the Foreign Ministry's X account at 12:39 p.m. ET (7:39 p.m. local time). She said Romania had briefed its allies and EU partners. "At Romania's initiative, we will have a dedicated meeting of the North Atlantic Council on Tuesday to discuss Black Sea defence and deterrence," she wrote. Țoiu also said Romania and Bulgaria were moving toward setting up an EU Maritime Security Hub in the Black Sea. A NATO spokesperson confirmed the shootdowns and said the aircraft "were operating under NATO command." "An investigation is ongoing, and NATO remains in close contact with the Romanian authorities," the spokesperson said, in a statement posted on X at 3:08 p.m. ET by CBS News' Margaret Brennan. As of 4:25 p.m. ET, Russia's Defense Ministry had not publicly commented on the shootdowns.

Earlier incursions

Romania shot down a drone in its airspace for the first time on July 24, according to Al Jazeera, citing President Nicușor Dan. In that incident, MApN said, an F-16 downed a drone near Padina in Buzău County after it was detected about 20 kilometers east of Sulina. Romania shot down three drones between July 24 and 26, and prosecutors confirmed that recovered components were of Russian origin, the Foreign Ministry said, according to Agerpres. Romania then expelled a Russian diplomat. HotNews.ro reported that four drones had been shot down over Romania before Saturday, all this summer.

In the week before Saturday, MApN radar detected targets near the Romanian border with Ukraine in eight separate cases, and in four of them drones briefly entered Romanian airspace, the ministry said.

Why it matters

The shootdowns came two days after two chemical tankers anchored near the Sulina Canal, an export route for Ukraine, were hit by drones. Seven crew members are still missing. A NATO military source told Reuters the tankers were hit by Russian drones. At least five other cargo ships have been hit near the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria in the past 10 days, with 23 sailors dead or missing, Reuters reported. Dan and Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev met NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Thursday to discuss Black Sea security.

Geran-3 is Russia's name for its version of Iran's jet-powered Shahed-238 drone, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Romania, a NATO and EU member, shares a 614-kilometer border with Ukraine.