Spanish F-18 fighters take off in Romania after an alert by Russian drones near the border

The soldiers of the Spanish Air and Space Army deployed at the MK base in Romania are getting used to the emergency alerts caused by the entry of Russian drones into allied territory. They have no choice, since the threats, called 'Alpha Scramble', are becoming more and more frequent, in a maneuver by Putin to measure NATO's response. This morning, two fighter jets had to be used to pursue a new unmanned object.

The Spanish F-18 fighters from the 12th Wing of the EA that were on duty this Wednesday began the night shift with a Tango Scramble training exercise in which two of them went out to monitor the Romanian skies for two hours to practice deterrent maneuvers and some exercises. Once they reached the ground, the pilots went to rest when, at dawn, the alarms were activated. This time it was real. As reported by the Romanian Ministry of Defense, at 4:41 Romanian time (3:41 on the Peninsula), a RO-Alert was activated after the Ministry of Defense's radar surveillance system detected "a group of aerial targets operating north of the town of Chilia Veche, in the territory of Ukraine, near the border with Romania."

Faced with this threat, the National Military Command Center notified the Inspector General for Emergency Situations about the implementation of measures to alert the population of the north of the Tulcea district, and at 04:41 an RO-Alert message was transmitted.

Simultaneously, two F-18 aircraft of the Spanish Air and Space Forces, which were serving in the Reinforced Air Police Mission, took off from Mihail Koglniceanu Air Base 57 to monitor the situation. The air alert ceased at 5:44 a.m.

The Romanian Ministry of Defense has confirmed what happened in a message on