Latvia Deploys Mobile Air Defence Units, Romania Scrambles Fighters Amid New Russian Drone Attack on Ukraine

Today, during another Russian drone attack on the territory of Ukraine, the Romanian Ministry of Defence raised two Spanish F-18 fighter jets based at an air base in Romania and two Romanian F-16s for observation. In turn, Latvia has deployed additional radars and mobile air defence teams near its eastern borders in case of new situations where military drones enter the country.

On the night of 2 October, Romania's border with Ukraine over the Danube was on air alert and fighter jets were deployed due to an attack by Russian attack drones in southern Odesa region. The RO-Alert was issued after the Romanian military spotted Russian drones flying towards targets in Ukraine in the border area with Romania. The surveillance systems did not detect the entry of the Shaheds into Romanian airspace.

In turn, Latvian Defence Minister Andris Sprūds said the day before that mobile fire groups with air defence systems had begun to be on duty around the clock in the Latgale region, and additional airspace monitoring radars specially adapted to detect drones had been deployed near the eastern border. Both contract soldiers and conscripts will be on duty in the mobile groups. This patrolling regime will be in place indefinitely.

These measures are a response to the first incident of a Russian Shahed entering the country - the drone flew into Latvia via Belarus, flew some distance and crashed. 

In additional comments to the media, the military explained that the new radars at the border can detect small vehicles flying at low altitudes, which may not be detected by larger radars. The Latvian military will now be able to better track the movement of such objects.