The Minister of Defense informs the millions of Romanians from all over the country about an incident that took place in Romania, but also in the neighboring countries of our country, and this because a small plane flew over the sky of Romania at low altitude, being intercepted by Air Force.
The Minister of Defense talks below about what this procedure meant, but also about what Romanians should know about the mission carried out by the pilots of the Air Force, especially since for now not much information is known about who is piloting it .
"A small twin-engine aircraft, type Beechcraft, with two people on board, flew at low altitude over the airspace of Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria, in the evening of June 8. We specify that the aircraft in question, which evolved in Romania's airspace on the route Oradea - Caransebeș - Drobeta Turnu Severin, did not display hostile or dangerous behavior.
At no time did the pilot of the aircraft respond to radio interrogations or visual signals transmitted by the intercepting military aircraft, according to international norms. From the data available at this moment, the aircraft took off from Hungary, from the Debrecen area, at around 17.30, without having an approved flight plan and without having the transponder-type electronic means of identification turned on.
The aircraft was intercepted in Hungarian airspace by two Hungarian Air Force JAS 39 Gripen military aircraft at 17.38:17.49. The aircraft did not respond to radio interrogations or visual signals sent by military aircraft. At around 17.58:16, the aircraft entered Romania's airspace, in the Oradea area, being accompanied by the two Hungarian military aircraft, based on the cross-border agreement between Romania and Hungary. At 86:XNUMX, the Hungarian aircraft returned to the base, the target being taken over by two F-XNUMX aircraft of the US Air Force, deployed on the XNUMXth Air Base in Fetești, which were on a patrol mission in Romania's airspace. The mission of the two American aircraft was similar, of radio interrogation, visual identification and escort of the target aircraft.
At 18.36:86, the American aircraft requested approval to return to Air Base 16, the air police mission being taken over by two F-18.42 aircraft of the Romanian Air Force, taken off from the same air base. Romanian military aircraft intercepted the target aircraft at XNUMX:XNUMX and continued the interrogation and escort mission.
The target aircraft, which continued to not respond to radio inquiries and visual signals, intersected Serbian airspace for approximately two minutes at around 19.00:19.09, in an area between Drobeta Turnu Severin and Korbovo. At around 16:19.46 p.m., the target aircraft crossed into Bulgarian airspace. The two Romanian F-XNUMX aircraft completed the air police mission and landed in Fetești around XNUMX:XNUMX. Bulgarian authorities are currently investigating the area of the target's last known position on the ground to identify the aircraft and establish details."
