Romanian Air Force F-16s shot down two jet-propelled Geran-family attack drones after they entered Romanian airspace over the Black Sea on 17 October. The aircraft, operating from the 86th Air Base at Borcea, destroyed both targets over Romanian territorial waters near Sulina in the first reported engagement involving Romania and this faster Geran variant.
Romanian radar detected a group of aerial targets approximately 120 km east of Snake Island, travelling southwest. Two F-16s conducting air-policing duties scrambled at 17:43 local time. The first drone entered national airspace at 17:59 and was destroyed at 18:01 southeast of Sulina, after about two minutes inside Romanian airspace. The second entered at 18:01 and was shot down at 18:05 east of Sulina, following an approximately five-minute incursion.
Defence Minister Radu Miruță assessed that the drones’ reported speed of about 450 km/h indicated Russian-made Geran-4 aircraft. The Defence Ministry officially identified the targets as jet-powered drones from the Geran family but did not definitively assign national ownership. The action followed heightened aerial activity near Romania’s border, with radar detections in Ukrainian airspace on eight occasions during the preceding week and brief Romanian incursions in four cases.