Romania launches fighter jets after drone detection near Ukraine border
On 20 July, Romanian radar detected a group of drones about 23 km north‑west of Vâlcove, close to the Danube delta and the Romania‑Ukraine border. The Ministry of Defence responded by issuing a RO‑Alert to residents of northern Tulcea at 19:06 and deploying four fighter aircraft to monitor the airspace.
Two Eurofighter Typhoon jets from the Italian Air Force stationed at Mihail Kogălniceanu base and two Romanian F‑16s from the Borcea base took off at 19:09 and 20:13 respectively. The mission focused on verifying the situation and maintaining response capability. No unauthorised incursions of Romanian airspace were reported and no aerial objects impacted the ground. The air‑alert state was lifted at 22:25.