Spanish F/A-18 Shoots Down Drone Over Romania After It Crosses Via Moldova

In the early hours of August 16, a Spanish Air and Space Force F/A-18 Hornet on NATO Air Policing patrol shot down a drone over southeastern Romania roughly 24km north of Galați, after radar detected the target entering Romanian airspace from the direction of Moldova. Moldova stated the drone was a Shahed-136/Geran-2 type that had crossed its territory coming from Ukrainian airspace. It was the fourth drone shot down over Romania in 2026 and followed a similar NATO intercept over Latvia on August 14, reinforcing concern that Russian-linked drone incursions were becoming a recurring test of NATO's eastern air defences.