Drone detected in national airspace, two F-18s scrambled to monitor the situation

The National Defence Ministry said its radar surveillance system detected an aerial target on Thursday at 15:17 near the Danube border with Ukraine, prompting the scramble at 15:20 of two Spanish Air and Space Force F-18s from Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, to monitor the situation.According to the Ministry, Romania's National Military Command Center notified the Emergency Management Inspectorate General, triggering public-alert procedures in northern Tulcea County. A RO-ALERT warning was issued at 15:25.The Ministry said the aerial target entered Romanian airspace, roughly 3.5 km southeast of Chilia Veche, where it remained for about 12 minutes before exiting toward Ukraine.The air-raid alert ended at 16:28, the Defence Ministry added.   On Thursday morning, he radar surveillance system of the Ministry of National Defence (MApN) detected an aerial target near Romania's river border with Ukraine, with two F-16 aircraft of the Romanian Air Force, from the 86th Air Base in Borcea, scrambled at 9:20 to monitor the situation.According to a press release from MApN, the National Military Command Centre (core) notified the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations of measures to alert the population in Tulcea County, which issued a RO-ALERT message starting at 9:13.'The aerial target entered Romanian national airspace for approximately two minutes, after which it left Romanian territory towards Ukraine. Shortly afterwards, explosions were heard in Ukrainian airspace,' the press release said.The air alert ended at 10:36, MApN said.In the night from Wednesday to Thursday, at 1:27, five aerial targets were detected in the area of Ismail, over Ukrainian territory.'Ground-based radars detected an aerial target entering Romanian national airspace approximately 2 km south of Pardina. The target remained in Romanian national airspace for approximately ten minutes, flying along the Chilia arm, before leaving Romanian territory towards Ukraine approximately 13 km south-west of Chilia Veche. Shortly after it left Romanian airspace, explosions were reported on Ukrainian territory,' MApN said.