Romania explained why it did not intercept the Russian drone that struck a house
Romanian officials have commented on the incident involving a drone crashing into a residential high-rise building. The country’s military and authorities stated that they were unable to shoot down the drone due to limited response time, existing legal regulations, and the operational characteristics of the air defense systems.
This was reported by Digi24.
During a press conference following the incident, representatives of the Romanian Ministry of Defense stated that they had too little time to respond to the threat. According to Brigadier General Gheorghe Maxim, only four minutes passed from the moment the target was detected until it crashed.
“The first constraint we face is legal: we cannot fire in a way that would affect the airspace of a neighboring country. In addition, hitting an aerial target requires a certain amount of time, which includes detection, identification, and engagement. The four minutes we had at our disposal were an extremely short time,” the general stated.
He also noted that a significant portion of Romania’s air defense systems was developed before the widespread use of attack drones in modern warfare.
According to Maxim, the army is constantly working to modernize its air defense systems and adapt them to new challenges. Separately, the general explained why Gepard anti-aircraft systems were not deployed near the site of the incident. According to him, in peacetime, the military cannot deploy such systems anywhere without the appropriate permits.
“We must have the consent of landowners and property owners to deploy such systems, which have a limited range of 1.5 km to 6 km… Because private property is protected by law. We are currently in peacetime. Where we received consent, we installed the systems. Where we did not receive consent, we did not install them,” he said.
Romanian Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Cristian Popovici also emphasized that the military cannot act in a way that creates even greater danger for the civilian population.
He noted that the army operates within clear legal constraints and does not always have the ability to use weapons immediately upon detecting an aerial target.
The Romanian Ministry of National Defense also reported that it continues to work on legislative changes that will allow for a more effective response to similar incidents in the future.
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