Romanian F-16s Shoot Down Two Jet-Powered Geran Drones Over the Black Sea

Two Romanian Air Force F-16s shot down two jet-powered Geran attack drones over Romania’s territorial waters near Sulina on the evening of Saturday, October 17, 2026. Each jet downed one drone, four minutes apart, shortly after the drones crossed into Romanian airspace.

Romania’s interim defense minister, Radu Miruță, said the next day that the drones’ speed points to Russia’s new Geran-4. “This is the first time we have shot down drones like these,” he told reporters.

Four minutes, two drones

According to the Ministry of National Defence, military radar picked up a group of aerial targets about 75 miles (120 km) east of Snake Island, heading southwest. Two F-16s on air policing duty took off from the 86th Air Base at Borcea at 5:43 p.m. local time.

The first drone entered Romanian airspace at 5:59 p.m. and was shot down at 6:01 p.m., southeast of Sulina. The second crossed in at 6:01 p.m. and was downed by the other F-16 Fighting Falcon at 6:05 p.m., east of the town, after about five minutes in national airspace.

That puts both kills between 18 and 22 minutes after takeoff. The ministry’s first statement called the targets drones; its update that night identified them as Geran-family attack drones “equipped with jet propulsion.”

Images credited to the ministry and published by The Aviationist show an F-16 firing what the outlet identifies as an AIM-9 Sidewinder heat-seeking missile. The ministry has not formally named the weapon in its statements.

Speaking at a press conference in Gorj County on October 18, Miruță listed three firsts for the ministry. One crew downed two drones in succession, both were hit within moments of crossing the border, and the drone type had never been shot down by Romanian forces before.

He also said the fighters were already waiting at the point where the ministry had estimated the incursion would happen, thanks to statistical models it had built. Jets launched only after the first drone crossed the border would not have reached the intercept area in time, he said.

Why a jet-powered Geran is a different problem

The drones Romania had met before flew at roughly 93 to 106 mph (150 to 170 km/h), Miruță said. Saturday’s pair were tracked at about 280 mph (450 km/h), which led him to suspect the Russian-made Geran-4.

The Geran-2 is the Russian designation for Iran’s piston-engined Shahed-136 drone. The Geran-4 has its own reinforced airframe and a turbojet engine, according to Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence (HUR).

HUR’s May 2026 teardown puts its top speed at up to 310 mph (500 km/h), with maneuvering at 186 to 249 mph (300 to 400 km/h). It carries a 110 or 198 pound (50 or 90 kg) warhead up to about 280 miles (450 km), and Russia began firing it at Ukraine in May.

That speed changes the math for a defender. Miruță said fighters had been a last resort against the slower drones, which can also be engaged from the ground, while against the faster type they are the better-suited tool, as Saturday showed.

Not Romania’s first drone shoot-down

Romanian F-16s are no longer new to this mission. In late July, they shot down three drones on three consecutive days, and prosecutors concluded the first of them, downed on July 24, was a Shahed-type drone, the ministry said.

In August, a Romanian F-16 fired its cannon at an explosive-laden sea drone threatening a gas platform off the Romanian coast.

In the week before Saturday’s shoot-down, the ministry said its radar tracked aerial targets near the border on eight separate occasions, and in four of them drones briefly entered Romanian airspace.

Over the same week, several commercial ships were hit by drones in the Black Sea, including inside Romania’s territorial waters, according to the ministry. It said it keeps adapting its procedures to defend Romania’s airspace and territorial sea.