Spanish F-18 jets scramble from Romanian base after drone alert near Danube border

Midnight scramble over the Danube

Romanian radar surveillance detected an aerial target moving near the Ukrainian town of Vylkove, close to the Romanian border, during strikes on Ukrainian electrical infrastructure along the Danube. In response to the detection, the Romanian National Military Command Centre notified the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations to activate public warning protocols. Civil protection authorities issued a RO-Alert message to residents in northern Tulcea County at 00:15 local time. Two Spanish Air and Space Force F-18 Hornet fighters deployed at the 57th Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base took off immediately on a surveillance flight to monitor the border region. The air alert concluded at 01:30 without any confirmed incursions into Romanian airspace, allowing the fighter aircraft to return safely to base.

Escalating alerts on NATO eastern flank

The midnight scramble represents the twenty-first urgent sortie conducted by the current rotation of Spain's Paznic Tactical Air Detachment. Just two nights earlier, on the night of 23 to 24 September, Romanian authorities issued an alert at 04:41 when aerial targets flew near Chilia Veche, located roughly 50 kilometres north of Vylkove, triggering an air policing deployment that concluded at 05:44. Air activity has intensified across allied borders, with Finnish and Swedish F-18 and Gripen fighters intercepting a Russian formation of Tu-134, MiG-31, and Su-30 aircraft without transponders over the Baltic Sea one day prior. Across August and September, Spanish personnel stationed in Romania have logged numerous Alpha Scramble alerts to protect allied airspace.

Interception of Russian Gerbera drone

The heightened alert posture follows an engagement on the morning of 16 August, when Spanish F-18s achieved the first allied shootdown of an intruding unmanned aerial vehicle over Romanian territory. An Alpha Scramble horn sounded at 03:45 after a Russian Gerbera drone crossed the border into Romania before temporarily departing into Moldovan and Ukrainian airspace. When the primary fighter suffered an ignition failure, pilots switched to a backup aircraft and launched within minutes.

“There is a failure in the startup. The turbine of fighter number one does not respond upon ignition. But in military aviation nothing is left to chance. The Quick Reaction Alert protocol provides for the contingency: the crew runs to the reserve F-18, configured on the apron in an identical weapons sequence. In a matter of minutes, the pair of Spanish fighters takes off in afterburner into the Romanian night.”

The pilots engaged in a 75-minute interception to visually identify the slow-moving drone (measuring 3 metres in wingspan, 3.5 metres in length, and travelling at 120 km/h) before receiving authorization to destroy it.

Paznic detachment deployment footprint

Spain deployed the Paznic Tactical Air Detachment in late July, drawing personnel and aircraft from Ala 12 based in Torrejón de Ardoz. The contingent comprises approximately 200 service members, seven F-18 fighter jets, an A400M transport aircraft, and a tactical radar system. To maintain continuous readiness, five fighter aircraft remain fully operational while two are held in reserve or maintenance rotations. The Spanish mission is scheduled to expand further in October with the planned arrival of three NH90 helicopters to reinforce surveillance capabilities.

August 202615

September 20264

August 2026

15 alerts

September 2026

4 alerts

Data from the article text

Lieutenant Colonel Alberto Calvo outlined the operational tempo faced by his detachment during the mission.

“Our war begins when the alarm sounds.”