Romanian general: military had no time to shoot down drone over Galați

A Romanian brigadier general has stated that military personnel did not have enough time to intercept a drone over Galați. He noted that existing air defence systems were designed before the era of drone warfare, and that troops lacked authorisation to deploy Gepard systems.

A Romanian brigadier general has told broadcaster Digi24 that the military in Romania did not have sufficient time to shoot down a drone that entered airspace over Galați. The statement sheds new light on a recent incident that has raised questions about Romania's readiness to handle drone threats near its borders.

According to the general, current air defence systems were designed and built before what he described as the "drone warfare era," making them poorly suited to rapidly respond to small unmanned aerial vehicles. The speed and unpredictability of modern drones create a reaction-time problem that legacy systems were never built to solve.

The general also revealed that military personnel on the ground did not have authorisation to deploy Gepard anti-aircraft systems at the time of the incident. This bureaucratic and procedural gap further reduced any practical ability to intercept the drone before it completed its trajectory over Romanian territory.

The incident in Galați has intensified debate within Romania and among NATO allies about the adequacy of air defence protocols in border regions adjacent to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Romanian officials and military analysts have been under pressure to explain how drone activity originating from the conflict zone is being monitored and countered.