Romanian F-16s scramble after aerial target detected near Snake Island

Two Romanian Air Force F-16s took off on the evening of 13 November 2026 after military radars detected an aerial target south-east of Snake Island, in Ukrainian airspace. Romania’s Ministry of Defence announced this in a statement carried by Romanian news agency News.ro, news television channel Digi24 and news outlet HotNews.ro.

Fighters took off from Fetești as warning was issued in Tulcea

The aircraft took off from the 86th Air Base at Fetești. They were on air policing duty, the ministry said.

The National Military Command Centre notified the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations so that measures could be activated to warn residents in northern Tulcea County. A message was sent via RO-Alert at 21:53.

Romania’s response included scrambling the fighters on alert and warning the public. However, the target was detected over Ukraine, not in the area covered by the warning. The RO-Alert message does not in itself establish that Romanian airspace was violated.

Target type and outcome of the mission not specified

The ministry did not specify what the target was, who it belonged to or where it came from. The term “aerial target” provides no basis for describing it as an unmanned aerial vehicle, a missile or a Russian aircraft.

The statement contains no information on whether the target subsequently entered Romanian airspace, whether it was intercepted or whether weapons were used. The fact that the F-16s took off does not mean that any of these things happened. Without the precise times of detection and take-off, and without information on the outcome of the mission, the speed or effectiveness of the response cannot be assessed.