Mystery object over Black Sea twice intrudes Romania's airspace
Since Thursday, the Romanian Ministry of Defense has twice reported the presence of a "small flying object" that entered the country's airspace over the Black Sea. Four fighter jets were scrambled from Romanian bases.
8:48 AM EDT, October 19, 2024
On the night from Friday to Saturday, military radar systems detected a small aerial object about 28 miles east of Sfantu Gheorghe in Tulcea County.
"In response, to monitor the situation, an F-18 of the Spanish Air Force was scrambled from the 57th Air Base Mihail Kogalniceanu, followed by two F-16 aircraft of the Romanian Air Force from the 86th Air Base Borcea," reported the Romanian Ministry of Defense.
The planes tracked the object on radar but could not make visual contact. After about half an hour, around 11:30 PM Eastern Time, the radar system lost the signal south of the town of Cogealac.
"The range of penetration into Romanian airspace was 12 miles," the statement added.
Warning to residents
According to the Ministry of Defense, at the time of issuing the statement, there was no data on potential impact zones or threats within Romania.
However, in the region of the incident, a warning was issued to residents under the Ro-Alert system.
Previous incident
A similar situation occurred on Thursday. Over the Black Sea, Romanian radar systems recorded a "small flying object" that crossed into the country's airspace to a depth of 9 miles.
Fighter jets were scrambled in accordance with NATO's air police protocol and then under national command.
