Romanian Senate Passes Law Allowing Military to Shoot Down Violating Drones
The Romanian Senate has passed a ‘drone law’ that provides for the neutralisation or destruction of drones that illegally enter the country's airspace, Digi24 reports.
‘The vote was 79 in favour, 11 against, and two abstentions.
The document stipulates that drones that illegally cross the Romanian border and fly without permission can be neutralised or even destroyed by the army.
The legislative initiative also aims to regulate a number of measures to control the use of national airspace, establishing authorities and institutions that have the authority to take measures to prevent and counteract the use of national airspace by aircraft, unmanned aerial systems and other aircraft.
‘Usually, in such situations, we are talking about commanders who are on a mission in the area. They should have the right to open fire on drones that enter Romanian airspace without authorisation,’ explained General Virgil Belecanu, former commander of the Seebrig multinational brigade.
In his opinion, Romania should have a ‘very short decision-making chain’ for opening fire on drones.
Within 60 days of the law's entry into force, the Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, the Ministry of Economy, Digitalisation, Entrepreneurship and Tourism, the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Special Telecommunications Service and the Security and Protection Service must approve joint orders on a general framework for cooperation.
At the same plenary session, the senators also approved a draft law regulating the conduct of military missions and operations on Romanian territory in peacetime without the need to declare a state of emergency.
On 13 February, the Romanian Ministry of National Defence announced that inspections on the ground had revealed fragments of two Russian Geranium 1/2 drones that Russia had used to strike Ukrainian port infrastructure on the Danube.
Earlier, Moldovan President Maia Sandu reported on social media that several Russian drones had violated Moldovan airspace, two of which exploded on Moldovan territory. She accompanied the post with a photo of a fragment of the destroyed drone. She stressed that this was the second such incident in recent months.