NATO Fighter Jet Shoots Down Drone Over Romania

By Aurax Radio | August 16, 2026 | 2 min read

A Spanish F-18 fighter jet operating on a NATO air-policing mission shot down a drone that entered Romanian airspace near the country’s borders with Ukraine and Moldova. The incident underscores the growing security challenges facing NATO members bordering Ukraine as drone warfare continues to spill beyond the battlefield.

Map showing Romania between Ukraine and Moldova and the approximate area where a drone entered Romanian airspace.

The drone was intercepted near Romania’s borders with Ukraine and Moldova during a NATO air-policing mission.

Romania’s Defense Ministry said the drone entered Romanian airspace from the direction of Moldova during the early hours of Sunday and was detected by military radar. Two Spanish F-18s assigned to NATO’s air-policing mission were scrambled, and one aircraft engaged the drone after receiving authorization to use force. The drone was destroyed and its debris fell in an uninhabited area between two villages, with no casualties or property damage reported. Romanian authorities did not immediately establish the drone’s origin, although the country has repeatedly recorded Russian drone incursions during attacks on neighboring Ukraine.

The shoot-down was the fourth time Romania has brought down an unmanned aircraft this year, according to its Defense Ministry. Romania shares a 614-kilometer border with Ukraine and has faced repeated incidents involving drones crossing into its airspace since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In July, Romanian F-16s shot down three Russian drones during separate incidents, while other unmanned aircraft have crashed or left debris on Romanian territory. The latest episode also comes as NATO increases air-policing activity along its eastern flank, where alliance members have had to respond to the increasing use of drones in and around the war in Ukraine.

Sources: CNN, Euronews, CBS News, Reuters and Romania’s Defense Ministry.

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