On the night of September 26 to 27, 2026, an unidentified aerial target entered Romanian airspace near Chilia Veche in Tulcea County close to the Ukrainian border, triggering an air alert. The target was detected by Romanian military radar and tracked flying parallel to the Chilia branch of the Danube before radar contact was lost near Pardina. Two Spanish Air and Space Force F-18 fighters assigned to NATO’s enhanced Air Policing mission and a Romanian Air Force IAR-330 SOCAT helicopter were scrambled to monitor the situation. An RO-Alert warning was issued to residents in northern Tulcea County at 23:32, with the alert lifted by 00:48. The Romanian Ministry of National Defence did not identify the type or origin of the target, only referring to it as an “aerial target.” Romanian media widely described the object as a drone. This incident follows a series of similar aerial target airspace incursions in Romania earlier in September 2026, involving both drone incursions and scrambles by Romanian and Spanish fighter jets, underlining increasing operational pressure on Romania’s air-surveillance and NATO’s enhanced air policing on its eastern flank near the war in Ukraine.

On the night of September 26 to 27, 2026, an unidentified aerial target entered Romanian airspace near Chilia Veche in Tulcea County close to the Ukrainian border, triggering an air alert. The target was detected by Romanian military radar and tracked flying parallel to the Chilia branch of the Danube before radar contact was lost near Pardina. Two Spanish Air and Space Force F-18 fighters assigned to NATO’s enhanced Air Policing mission and a Romanian Air Force IAR-330 SOCAT helicopter were scrambled to monitor the situation. An RO-Alert warning was issued to residents in northern Tulcea County at 23:32, with the alert lifted by 00:48. The Romanian Ministry of National Defence did not identify the type or origin of the target, only referring to it as an “aerial target.” Romanian media widely described the object as a drone. This incident follows a series of similar aerial target airspace incursions in Romania earlier in September 2026, involving both drone incursions and scrambles by Romanian and Spanish fighter jets, underlining increasing operational pressure on Romania’s air-surveillance and NATO’s enhanced air policing on its eastern flank near the war in Ukraine.