Romania to shoot down Russian drones entering its airspace

On Wednesday, February 26, the Romanian Senate adopted a draft law on the control of the use of airspace. The document regulates the procedures according to which the army can shoot down drones that illegally fly into the country's airspace.

Digi24 and other media outlets reported this.

The draft law establishes measures to control the use of national airspace and defines the bodies and institutions responsible for preventing and counteracting unauthorized use of airspace by manned and unmanned aircraft.

According to the document, UAVs that illegally cross the state border of Romania and fly in national airspace without permission will be able to be destroyed or neutralized if their flight cannot be "taken under control" by Romanian or NATO military forces.

Thus, a new framework for cooperation and coordination will be created at the level of authorities and institutions with competences for managing and monitoring national airspace and ensuring compliance with its use rules, which will contribute to improving flight safety.

It is important to note that the Senate adopted the draft law. In the Romanian legislative process, this means that the law no longer requires the approval of the Chamber of Deputies and will be sent to the president for signature.

Thus, the law has actually already been adopted, but will formally enter into force after publication.

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It is worth noting that since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Romania has repeatedly reported that it has discovered fragments of Russian drones on its territory.

A few weeks ago, fragments of Russian Geran drones were found on Romanian territory. These drones had been used to target Ukrainian port infrastructure in the Odesa region. 

This incident is not the first time that the risk of Russian drones falling near Romania's border with Ukraine has been documented.

Also, on October 4, the wreckage of a strike drone that the Russians launched towards Ukraine was once again discovered on Romanian territory.

In addition, during the Russian shelling of Ukraine on the night of September 8, a Russian drone flew into Romanian airspace.

In July, amid a massive air attack, Romania scrambled F-16 fighter jets.