Europe Has Stopped Asking Nicely
On Saturday, Romania decided it had had quite enough of Russia's drone-shaped bullshit.
Two F-16s went up from Borcea when radar picked up multiple targets over the Black Sea. The first drone crossed into Romanian airspace at 17:59 and was dead by 18:01. The second arrived that same minute and lasted four. Both fell into Romanian territorial waters, which is a tidy place for Russian hardware to end up.
This is the new arrangement, and Moscow should read it carefully. The border is no longer a suggestion, the warnings have run out, and anything that drifts across it will be met by a Romanian pilot with a lock-on and no particular interest in your explanation.
An American reading this might feel it sounds a bit World War Three, and that instinct is correct, because it looks a great deal like 1939. The difference is that this time the man in the White House is working for the other side, strengthening Russia with every concession while insisting the war is somebody else's problem. It is coming anyway, and no, the United States does not get to sit this one out from behind two oceans.
China has its own plans for the U.S, Taiwan and the Pacific, and they do not involve asking Washington for permission. That is not my analysis. It is what Trump's own generals have been warning him about.
Două aeronave F-16 ale Forțelor Aeriene Române, aflate în serviciul de luptă Poliție Aeriană, au decolat sâmbătă, 17 octombrie, de pe Baza 86 Aeriană Borcea, la ora 17:43, după ce sistemele de supraveghere radar au detectat un grup de ținte aeriene care evoluau la aproximativ 120 de kilometri est de Insula Șerpilor, pe direcția sud-vest.
La ora 17:59, prima țintă a pătruns în spațiul aerian național, fiind doborâtă de una dintre aeronavele F-16 la ora 18:01.
O a doua țintă a pătruns în spațiul aerian național la ora 18:01 și a fost doborâtă de cealaltă aeronavă F-16 la ora 18:05.
Ambele ținte aeriene au fost identificate ca fiind drone și au fost doborâte deasupra apelor teritoriale ale României.
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