F-18 and F-16 Jets Scrambled as New Aerial Target Detected Over Romania

On Saturday, October 19, at around 2:30 a.m., the radar surveillance system of the Romanian Army indicated a small aerial target in an area off the Black Sea, approximately 45 km east of the town of Sfântu Gheorghe, Tulcea county, the Romanian Ministry of Defense (MApN) reports.

It is the second incident of this kind in the last two days, after a RO-Alert message was issued in Constanța county on Thursday evening due to an aerial target that entered the national space in the Eforie Nord area and entered to a maximum depth of 14 kilometers in Romanian space.

In the night from Friday to Saturday, as a result of the fact that the detected target was moving on a route towards the state border of Romania, the structures in the Extended Air Police Combat Service under NATO command were activated, according to the procedures, and later, the Police Airline under national command.

Thus, to monitor the situation, two F-18 aircraft of the Spanish Air Force, from the 57th Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base, and two F-16 aircraft of the Romanian Air Force, from the 86th Borcea Air Base, were taken off, MApN mentioned.

The radar signal indicated the crossing of Romania’s land border around 4:00 a.m., in the Gura Portiței area, at which time the National Military Command Center (core) notified the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations regarding the establishment of measures to alert the population in the northern area east of Constanța county.

Air surveillance radars continuously followed the target’s route, which evolved towards the town of Cogealac, Constanța county, the maximum depth of penetration on the national territory being 19 km. Fighter aircraft did not make visual contact with it at any point on the evolution track.

The surveillance system lost the radar signal south of the town of Cogealac, around 4.30 am. The termination of the air alert was transmitted at around 5.10 a.m. and the fighter aircraft returned to the deployment bases. From the data available at this time, the probability of the existence of an impact zone on the national territory has not been indicated.

The forces of the Ministry of National Defense will, starting this morning, carry out investigations in the area. MApN informed the allied structures in real time about this situation, remaining in permanent contact with them.