Spanish F-18 shoots down drone over Romania after approach via Moldova

A Spanish Air and Space Force F/A-18 Hornet shot down a drone over southeastern Romania in the early hours of August 16, 2026, the fourth unmanned aircraft destroyed over Romanian territory this year.

The Romanian Ministry of National Defense said its surveillance systems detected an aerial target entering national airspace at 04:44 local time from the direction of the Republic of Moldova, around 24 kilometers (15 miles) north of Galati. An F/A-18 Hornet assigned to air policing duty at the 57th Air Base at Mihail Kogalniceanu was already airborne on a monitoring mission, established radar contact and received approval to engage. The drone was destroyed at 05:01, 17 minutes after detection.

A probable debris impact point was identified between the villages of Baleni and Cudalbi in Galati County, in an unpopulated area. The air alert for the county was lifted at 05:20. No injuries or damage were reported. The ministry did not identify the drone’s type or operator.

Drone entered Romania after crossing Moldova

The target did not cross directly from Ukraine, despite Romania’s 614-kilometer (382-mile) land border with the country. It arrived over Moldova, which is not a NATO member, fields no fighter aircraft and takes part in no allied air policing arrangement.

Moldovan airspace has been penetrated repeatedly in August 2026. A drone exploded near Crocmaz in the Stefan Voda district on August 9, prompting Chisinau to recall its ambassador from Moscow. The following night, Moldova’s Air Operations Service tracked an aircraft crossing over Priozerne for about a minute and assessed its characteristics as consistent with a Geran-3, the jet-powered Shahed variant now common in Russian strike packages against Odesa.

Spanish Hornets two weeks into Romanian deployment

Spain took over the mission from Italian and British detachments at a ceremony at the 86th Air Base in Borcea on July 31, 2026.

The contingent operates seven F/A-18M Hornets and around 200 personnel from Mihail Kogalniceanu, supported by an A400M tanker, with three NH-90 helicopters assigned to counter-drone tasks due in the final phase. The rotation runs to the end of November 2026. It is Spain’s fourth deployment to Romania, after 2021, 2024 and February 2026, and the detachment flew its first live Alpha scramble on August 12, 2026.

Romanian F-16 pilots shot down three drones on three consecutive days between July 24 and July 26, 2026, the first such engagements inside national airspace. Prosecutors identified the July 24 aircraft as a Shahed type, and Bucharest expelled a Russian diplomat and recalled its ambassador from Moscow. A Russian drone had earlier struck a residential building in Galati on May 29, 2026, injuring two people.

The interception is the second by allied fighters on NATO’s eastern flank in three days, after NATO jets downed a drone over Latvia on August 14, 2026.The post Spanish F-18 shoots down drone over Romania after approach via Moldova appeared first on AeroTime.

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