Interim National Defence Minister Radu Miruta told a news conference on Sunday in Targu Jiu that three firsts had been recorded in connection with the two drones shot down by Romanian military pilots in the country's airspace on Saturday evening.

'I can tell you what was unprecedented about the two drones shot down last night in Romanian airspace. The Ministry of National Defence recorded three absolute firsts in its activity.
The first is that two drones were shot down consecutively, four and a half minutes apart, one at 18:01 and the other at 18:05. Two fighter jets took off, which have certain payload and operational limitations... The fact that both drones, out of two that entered consecutively, were shot down by the same crew is a first. A second first is that the drones were shot down just moments after entering Romanian airspace; the first drone entered at 17:59 and was engaged and shot down at 18:01; the fighter jets would not have had time to take off from the 86th Air Base Borcea and reach the interception area if they had done so only after the drones entered Romanian airspace,' the interim Minister of National Defence explained.

He mentioned that this success was due to the way operations are conducted, with the targets' flight paths anticipated in advance.

'We carried out analyses that led us to a model which allows us to make decisions in advance. The statistical models we used last night proved fully effective; the fighter jets were positioned to meet and await the targets, right at the point where it was estimated that Romanian airspace would be violated, which is proof of the very careful work carried out so far,' Radu Miruta highlighted.

According to him, the third first regards the fact that these were the first drones with a turboprop engine to be shot down over Romania, as they have a much higher flight speed than previous models.

'The third first recorded was the new drone model. Until now, we had been very familiar with drones that flew at 150-170 km/h, you have probably seen public discussions over the past two or three weeks about drones with turboprop engines, those drones with a range of 800-900 kilometres that fly at almost the speed of a fighter jet, the ones shot down last night were flying at 450 km/h, which leads us to believe they were Russian-made Geran-4 drones with turboprop engines. This is the first time we have shot down such drones,' interim Minister Radu Miruta mentioned.

In 2026 so far, six drones that entered Romanian national airspace have been shot down and a further 44 drones or fragments have been recovered and neutralised on Romanian territory, according to data released by the Ministry of National Defence (MApN) on Sunday.

According to the MApN, 97 attacks near the border were recorded in 2026, 77 aircraft were scrambled, 35 unauthorised incursions took place, six drones were shot down, 44 drones or fragments were identified/recovered/neutralised and two sea mines found drifting in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) or washed ashore were neutralised.

The latest incident linked to the war in Ukraine occurred on Saturday evening, when two aerial drones were engaged and shot down by Romanian military pilots over the Black Sea.

The targets neutralised in national airspace on Saturday were attack drones from the Geran family, powered by jet engines, the MApN reported.

'Two Romanian Air Force F-16 aircraft, conducting Air Policing missions, were scrambled from the 86th Air Base Borcea at 17:43, after radar surveillance systems detected a group of aerial targets flying approximately 120 kilometres east of Snake Island, heading southwest. At 17:59, the first target entered Romanian airspace and was shot down by one of the F-16 aircraft at 18:01. A second target entered Romanian airspace at 18:01 and was shot down by the other F-16 aircraft at 18:05. Both aerial targets were identified as drones and were shot down over Romanian territorial waters,' according to a MApN release.

On Sunday, the MApN also shared on Facebook footage captured during the mission carried out by Romanian pilots on Saturday evening to neutralise the two drones that entered Romanian airspace without authorisation. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Marius Septimiu Avram; EN - writing by: Rodica State)

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