German Air Force protects Romania with Eurofighters

There are incidents on the border between Romania and Ukraine. Drones deployed by Russia or the remains of them have landed on NATO territory. The German Armed Forces are now helping Romania with armed protective flights and an anti-drone device.

Four Eurofighters and a new anti-drone defense system for self-protection: The air force is participating in securing NATO's south-eastern flank with armed protection flights. This is also the Alliance's response to incidents in which unmanned aerial vehicles of Russian origin or remnants thereof have struck the Danube Delta. With this deployment, Germany is supporting Romania, said Lieutenant Colonel Markus Kuchenbaur, who is leading the contingent of up to 150 men and women of the German Armed Forces, at the Mihail Kogalniceanu military airfield near Constanta.

On the Romanian side of the border with Ukraine, there were four incidents in which airspace was violated. They were all related to Russian attacks on Ukrainian Danube ports. A very precise analysis showed that these incidents were probably not intentional on the part of Russia, as was explained. However, there have also been confrontations over the Black Sea. It made headlines when a US drone was apparently brought down by a Russian fighter plane. The area is geographically narrow and the war in Ukraine is practically within sight from an aviation perspective.

It takes five to eight minutes to fly from the military airfield to the Ukrainian border. The Black Sea coast is also practically under our noses. This is where the Romanian twelve-mile zone up to international airspace begins, which is also used by Russian military aircraft. "We are very close," says Kuchenbaur. And: "My pilots are instructed to act defensively." The German pilots and their Eurofighters do not leave the twelve-mile zone off the Romanian coast, he explains, so they do not fly any further in the direction of the conflict zone, thereby signaling their defensive mission.

"We are deployed to protect material and personnel"

The "defense system against unmanned aerial vehicles" (ASUL), an anti-drone device introduced in 2022, was also relocated to the camp used by the Bundeswehr at the military base. Key components include an operating container and antenna systems as well as a mobile jammer. "We are deployed to protect material and personnel," says commanding officer Dominik, a lieutenant. Drones can be detected up to 40 kilometers away. A jammer can interrupt the connection to the remote control of the missile. The system has also been used in Mali and Estonia.

"Enhanced Air Policing South (eAPS)" is the official name of the NATO deployment, which is part of military deterrence. Within the alliance, countries in the east and south-east are provided with capabilities that they do not have or that they need more of.

Third deployment of this kind for the Bundeswehr in Romania

In accordance with NATO standards, the Eurofighter alert rotorcraft must be in the air within 15 minutes, which was demonstrated with a training take-off ("tango scramble"). "Alpha scramble" is the sharp deployment following an alert. It is explained that the point at which an armed attacker is engaged is decided at NATO level. It is not envisaged that a drone entering Romania will be shot down - if only because the use of weapons brings its own dangers.

This is the third deployment of this kind for the Bundeswehr in Romania, after Eurofighters were already deployed there in 2021 and 2022. In addition to the Tactical Air Force Wing 31 "Boelcke" and the specialists from the air defense missile force with ASUL technology, soldiers from the Air Force's "Friesland" object protection regiment are also at the airfield. They secure the site on the ground wearing masks and armed with assault rifles, even if it is in friendly territory.