By Santi Sánchez
Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base, Romania, Sep 27 (EFE).- At 2 a.m. on Aug. 16, the words “alpha scramble” jolted two Spanish F-18 pilots from standby duty at Romania’s Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base, on the Black Sea coast just a few kilometers from Ukraine.
Unlike the daily drills they routinely perform, this alarm was real: a Russian drone had entered Romanian airspace.
Less than 15 minutes after the alert, the fighter jets were airborne. Seventy-five minutes later, the drone had been shot down.
The interception was the first of four real alerts the Spanish Air Force responded to in Romania, highlighting the growing pressure on NATO’s eastern flank as Russian drones repeatedly approach or breach allied airspace.
“It seems likely these incursions are deliberate,” Lieutenant Colonel Borja Calvo, commander of Spain’s Paznic detachment, told EFE.
“Russia is testing NATO’s response, whether these violations become normalized or not. And our response has been immediate every time.”
A mission under growing pressure
The Spanish detachment consists of 190 military personnel, seven F-18 fighter jets, an A400M transport aircraft capable of aerial refueling, an early-warning radar and, from October, three NH90 helicopters.
According to Calvo, the unit has handled more real alpha scramble incidents in three weeks than previous Spanish deployments did in four months, evidence that Russia is “continuously testing NATO’s response capability.”
Unlike the Baltic region, where fighter aircraft frequently trigger interceptions, Romania’s alerts have involved drones.
Of 19 incursions recorded during the current deployment, only one required a shootdown, the Aug. 16 incident involving a Gerbera drone, which can carry up to five kilograms of explosives and fly at around 65 km/h.
“We may know the type of drone, but not what it’s carrying,” Calvo said. “Whether it’s five kilos or 90, the order is clear: shoot it down.”
He added that some drones briefly enter Romanian airspace because of the winding course of the Romania-Ukraine border, while others fall into Romanian territory after being hit by Ukrainian air defenses.
Fifteen minutes from alarm to takeoff
Under NATO’s alpha scramble protocol, fighter aircraft must be airborne within 15 minutes of an aerial threat being detected.
To maintain that readiness, Spanish crews conduct daily tango scramble exercises involving three F-18s, two operational and one reserve, together with pilots, mechanics, weapons technicians, and a watchkeeper.
Each fighter carries both a 20 mm cannon and air-to-air missiles. The choice of weapon depends on the circumstances: the cannon is used only in daylight and at a safe distance to avoid flying through debris, while infrared-guided missiles are preferred for nighttime interceptions, as in the Aug. 16 operation.
During a mission, one aircraft provides cover while the other engages the target.
The rules of engagement are strict: interceptions can only occur over NATO territory and never inside Ukraine.
“Our war starts here, when the alarm sounds,” Calvo said.
Eyes on the Black Sea
Alongside the fighter mission, Spain operates an early-warning radar around the clock, tracking aircraft and drones and feeding data directly into NATO’s integrated air-defense network.
About 40 personnel are responsible for operating and maintaining the system, whose current radar has accumulated more than 30,000 operating hours since entering service in 2011.
Commander José Alberto Escolar said it will be replaced in early 2027 by the Spanish-built LTR-25 radar, which operates on a different frequency band and will improve the detection of smaller drones as well as conventional aircraft.
Training for modern warfare
Several kilometers away, in the training grounds of Badabag, Spanish Marines are conducting exercises with the Romanian Army as part of NATO’s multinational battle group deployed on the alliance’s eastern flank.
The drills simulate high-intensity conventional warfare alongside electronic warfare, cyberattacks, nuclear, biological, and chemical defense, and extensive drone operations.
Spanish infantry units also use drones to gather battlefield intelligence. Corporal Calero operates a Parrot Anafi USA, a compact quadcopter equipped with a thermal camera and capable of flying in adverse weather over distances of up to four kilometers.
“Drones make a huge difference for infantry,” he said. “Before riflemen reach the objective, they already know where the enemy is, what equipment they have and even what weapons they’re carrying. All that information goes straight to the commanding officer.”
As the war in Ukraine reshapes military doctrine across Eastern Europe, drones have become ubiquitous, not only over the battlefield, but also along NATO’s frontier in places such as Romania’s Black Sea coast and the Danube Delta. EFE
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