Romanian F-16 downs third drone over Black Sea; timeline released

Romanian pilots intercepted and destroyed a third Russian drone over the Black Sea on Sunday, July 26, marking the third consecutive day of airspace violations. The Ministry of Defense released footage and a detailed timeline of the mission.

The incident began at 9:29 AM when radar systems detected an aerial target 25 km southeast of Sulina, following Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure near Romania's border. Two F-16 fighter jets were immediately scrambled from the 86th Air Base Borcea. A RO-Alert was issued for the Tulcea region.

The drone entered national airspace at 10:08 AM. Just five minutes later, at 10:13 AM, one of the F-16s engaged the target with a missile, destroying it 12 km northeast of Sulina within Romanian territorial waters. "Spotted, identified, engaged, and neutralized! Romania's Army soldiers are on duty every day for our safety," stated the Romanian Air Forces.

Authorities are now searching for fragments of the drone and the interceptor missile in the Black Sea. Investigations are also underway for drones downed on July 25 and July 24. The latter was identified as a Shahed drone. The investigations are being handled by the Ploiești and Constanța prosecutor's offices, respectively, as Romania seeks to determine the origin of these incursions.