An F-16 brought down a drone over the Danube Delta on Saturday morning, a day after Romania destroyed an intruder in its airspace for the first time.
Romania has shot down a second drone in its airspace in as many days.
An F-16 fighter destroyed the aircraft on Saturday morning over the Danube Delta, near the border with Ukraine.
President Nicusor Dan said the drone was intercepted at 8.30am local time, about 10km (six miles) west of the town of Sfantu Gheorghe.
He wrote on X: “This morning at 08:30, another drone was shot down in Romanian airspace.” He said it had been brought down by a Romanian pilot flying an F-16.
Acting defence minister Radu Miruta gave a fuller account on Facebook, saying the drone had illegally entered Romanian airspace and was tracked before being engaged.
He wrote: “The drone was detected by Ministry of National Defence radars entering our airspace at 8:22 and was struck a few minutes later by a Romanian F-16 fighter jet.”
Two F-16s were scrambled after radar picked up the aircraft, the defence ministry said.
Authorities did not immediately say where the drone came from. It follows the first such shootdown on Friday, when a Romanian F-16 brought down a drone near the village of Padina, about 114km (70 miles) from Bucharest.
That was the first time Romania had destroyed an aircraft violating its airspace, after years of incursions. Prosecutors have since said Friday’s drone was Russian. Romania shares a 650km (400-mile) border with Ukraine and says Russian drones have entered its airspace around 30 times since 2022.
The incursions began after Russia started targeting Ukrainian ports along the Danube, and have grown more frequent as Moscow steps up strikes on southern Ukraine, particularly around the port of Odesa. Friday’s shootdown followed an operation in which Romanian F-16s and Italian Eurofighters were scrambled to track the drone before it was engaged.
I’m sure Romania is quite happy to have something to practice on.