Romania twice in one day scrambled Spanish F-18s and helicopters over air targets near Snake Island

On November 8, Romanian radars detected two air targets near Snake Island. Two Spanish F-18s scrambled from Kogălniceanu air base, followed by two NH-90 helicopters; an RO-Alert notification was sent to residents of Tulcea County. The alert was lifted by 15:26, and no calls were made to emergency services.

Otabek YusupovFirst published on tafs uz 8 November 2026 at 20:002 min read

The key facts

The first target appeared about 30 km east of Snake Island, in Ukrainian airspace, and disappeared from radars near Sulina
The second target was detected about 55 km west of the island; two NH-90 helicopters were scrambled to track it
The alert was lifted by 15:26 local time; no calls were made to 112

Two targets near Snake Island and a staged response

On November 8, the Romanian military twice responded to unidentified air targets in the area of Snake Island. According to the Romanian news agency AGERPRES , citing the Ministry of National Defence, the first target appeared about 30 kilometers east of the island — already in Ukrainian airspace. Two Spanish F-18 fighters on combat duty as part of NATO's mission to patrol allied airspace scrambled from the 57th Air Base named after Mihail Kogălniceanu. Romania's Defence Ministry also reported this on the social network X, as noted by Gazeta.Ru.

Public alert and the second target

In parallel, the military command ordered residents of the eastern part of Tulcea County to be warned: at 14:02 local time an emergency notification was sent via the RO-Alert system. Soon the first object disappeared from radar screens east of the city of Sulina, but then a second target was detected — about 55 kilometers west of Snake Island. To monitor it, two Spanish NH-90 helicopters were scrambled from the same air base. The National Military Command Center notified the emergency situations inspectorate in order to warn the population.

How it ended and the context

By 15:26 local time the air alert was lifted. According to Romanian emergency services, no calls had been made to 112 in connection with the incident; the nature of the detected objects is not reported in the publications. This is not the first such case in November: on October 31, as Life.ru previously reported, Romania scrambled four F-16s and a helicopter over suspicious objects near the border with Moldova, and one of them, according to the Romanian Defence Ministry, illegally crossed the air border. In October, the Romanian Air Force, according to Gazeta.Ru, shot down two dronesthat had violated the republic's airspace over the Black Sea: radars detected them about 120 km east of Snake Island, flying in a southwesterly direction toward the Romanian coast; two F-16s scrambled to intercept them.