Traian Băsescu believes that Romania has shown that it can intercept a drone that enters its airspace, but says that the defense would be put to the test in the event of an attack with several devices launched simultaneously.
Former president Traian Băsescu analyzed on Sunday, July 26, the three incidents of the last few days, in which drones entering Romanian airspace were shot down by F-16 planes of the Romanian Air Force.
Invited to Digi24, Traian Băsescu said that “we are in a situation close to a war situation”: “As long as aircraft or drones, which can carry explosives, enter your airspace daily, you cannot say that you are in a peaceful situation. You are in a situation of risk, of military intervention”, Basescu declared.
Next comes the test with the swarm
The head of state says that Romania’s reaction to an individual target shows that there is the capacity to intervene, but he believes that a situation with several drones at the same time would require other defense solutions.
“Basically, the drone fight is not one-on-one, it’s a swarm. Things don’t have to make us march. You can’t hold a press conference for a drone that goes down with a slingshot. Good thing we showed that we can handle one. The swarm test is coming.” said Traian Băsescu.
The former head of state stated that such incidents represent a method by which the reaction capacity of the Romanian defense is checked.
“I think they’re testing the ability to fight back, they’ve been testing it all the time,” Basescu said.
He argued that Russia could try to find out if Romania is ready to react to such incidents and if the pilots can intervene repeatedly.
“Escalation is possible. They wanted to see if it was a fluke or if all the pilots are ready to shoot down drones. They saw today that the third pilot is also ready. We know we have pilots trained for one-on-one combat.” said Traian Băsescu.
He also commented on the use of F-16 aircraft to destroy drones, given that the cost of a missile launched by such an aircraft is much higher than that of a drone. In this context, Traian Băsescu believes that the decision must be analyzed through the prism of the risks that a drone can create when it reaches the ground.
“It’s absolutely right that it’s not okay to use missiles from an F-16 against a cheap drone. But if you look at the first part (at costs – no) and it hits a school, a nursery, a refinery, the damage is greater…”, said Traian Băsescu.
He also spoke about the possibility of Romania requesting consultations within NATO, invoking Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which allows a member state to request discussions with allies when it considers its security or territorial integrity threatened.
“If things evolve and get beyond us, NATO must be called on Article 4. It is possible that we will be dealing with an escalation. We will wake up with the swarm and not be able to cope”, the former president said.
At the same time, he also mentioned Romania’s obligations stipulated in Article 3 of the NATO Treaty, which requires member states to develop their own defense capacity. In direct language, Băsescu said that Romania must use all available resources, from its own military systems to the support of allies.
“Let’s do what Article 3 asks of us, let’s be ready to defend ourselves. With what we have, with clubs, with F-16s, with allies to do aerial policing, with the French who are at Cincu, with the Americans… with what we have!”, said Traian Băsescu.
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