Romania has developed rules for shooting down drones and aircraft that violate airspace

At a meeting of the Romanian Security and Defense Council, the methodological framework for applying legislation to shoot down drones and military aircraft with pilots who violate airspace was supplemented. This was reported by the media Digi24 with reference to the Minister of National Defense of Romania Ionuca Moscea.

According to him, in such cases, the final decision is made by the commander of the operation, and in the case of civilian aircraft that violate national airspace, the minister decides. In particular, he mentioned in this context the September 11 attacks in the United States, when militants hijacked passenger airliners.

Mosteanu noted that the defense ministries have received a list of facilities that need to be protected. The list is updated depending on the reality, it may include temporary facilities, for example, when an important event takes place, where, for example, presidents of states or prime ministers are in a public place, hotel or conference hall.

He clarified that the law provides for three main stages of response: identification, jamming, and intervention. The minister did not disclose details, as the information is classified .

At the same time, Mosteanu emphasized that the use of weapons and the destruction of the plane is a last resort, a measure of last resort if other steps are ignored and the plane is not identified and does not leave Romanian airspace.

• On September 13, a Russian drone stayed in Romanian airspace for 50 minutes, tracked by two F-16 fighters, until it left Romanian territory. In response, President Zelenskyy said that the Russian military cannot help but understand where their drones are aimed. This is not the first time that Russia has violated Romanian airspace.
• The next day, Romania summoned the Russian ambassador over the incident – in response, Moscow called Bucharest's protest allegedly "far-fetched and unfounded" and claimed a "UFO".