The Paznic Tactical Air Detachment (DAT) is monitoring Russian drone activities on the Ukrainian-Romanian border for surveillance and protection of NATO's eastern flank. Since last week, Spanish F-18 fighter jets have been activated on several occasions due to the escalation of Russian unmanned aerial bombardment in the Ukrainian region of Odessa.
The first of the activations was in response to drones launched by the armed forces of the Russian Federation over the border town of Izmail, located on the banks of the Danube River. Pairs of Romanian Air Force F-16 fighters took turns throughout the early hours of the morning with F-18s from the Spanish ‘Paznic’ detachment, located at the Mikhail Kogalniceanu Air Base. Together, they established surveillance in the vicinity of the Romanian town of Babadag, located in the Danube Delta.
Over the following days, Spanish F-18s, in coordination with Romanian F-16s, have taken off on several occasions on an emergency basis (scramble) to carry out surveillance patrols to ensure that Russian drones did not cross the Romanian border.
Spanish aircraft have also carried out air policing and surveillance activities with other international forces, supporting the mission of a NATO E-3 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AWACS), which was operating over Romanian territory in the vicinity of the Black Sea.