On the night of October 19, an unexpected situation occurred in Romania, which led to the raising of fighter jets for interception. According to the information of the Ministry of National Defense of Romania, military aircraft F-18 of the Spanish Air Force and F-16 of the Romanian Air Force were raised in connection with the detection of an air target that crossed the country's border.
"On Saturday, October 19, around 2:30 a.m., the radar surveillance system of the Romanian Army detected a small aerial target in the Black Sea region, approximately 45 km east of the city of Sfantu Gheorghe, Tulcea County," the message reads.
It is indicated that "the detected target was moving along the route to the state border of Romania."
"In order to monitor the situation, two F-18 aircraft of the Spanish Air Force from the 57th Mihail Kogelnicanu Air Base and two F-16 aircraft of the Romanian Air Force from the 86th Air Force Base in Borca were successively taken into the air," the Ministry of Defense of Romania reported.
"The radar signal indicated the crossing of the land border of Romania at around 4:00 am in the area of Hura-Porticei, at which time the National Military Command Center (core) informed the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations to take measures to notify the population in the northern part east of the County of Constanța ", the message said.
"Air surveillance radars continuously followed the route of the target, which was developing in the direction of the city of Kojalak, Konstanz County, the maximum depth of penetration into the territory of the country was 19 km. The fighters did not establish visual contact with him at any point of the route," the Ministry of Defense of Romania said.
The surveillance system reportedly lost its radar signal south of the town of Kocalac around 4:30 am.
According to the Romanian Ministry of Defense, around 5:10 a message was received about the termination of the air alert and the fighter jets returned to their deployment points.
"From the currently available data, the probability of the existence of an influence zone on the national territory is not indicated. Forces of the Ministry of National Defense will conduct reconnaissance in the area from this morning. The Ministry of National Defense informed allied structures about this situation in real time, being in constant contact with them," the Ministry of Defense of Romania reported.
