Romania scrambles fighter jets after detecting suspicious 'weather balloon' in its airspace
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Loading... - Sophia Brown
- 15 Feb 2023
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The air force sent two MiG 21 LanceR jets to the area in the southeast 10 minutes after its surveillance system detected the object, the defence ministry said. It comes amid heightened tensions between the US and China after Washington shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon.
A suspicious aerial object looking like a weather balloon has been spotted flying in Romania's airspace.
The country's air force scrambled two MiG 21 LanceR jets to the area in the southeast 10 minutes after its surveillance system detected the object, but they were unable to confirm its presence, the defence ministry said.
The planes stayed in the vicinity for 30 minutes before returning to base after not getting visual or radar confirmation of the target.
The ministry said the balloon was flying at an altitude of 11,000m.
It comes amid heightened tensions between the US and China after Washington shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon earlier this month.
The US says it has recovered key sensors from the object, which spent around a week flying over the US and Canada before President Joe Biden ordered it to be downed off the South Carolina coast.
The sighting in Romania occurred the same day that Moldova, which borders Romania and Ukraine, briefly closed its air space for undisclosed security reasons - though the Romanian ministry did not link the two events.
US says other objects shot down could be 'tied to some commercial or benign purpose'
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Since the South Carolina incident, the US military has shot down three more objects, but the White House has said there were no indications they were part of China's spy programme. Read More…
