The airspace of Romania was violated by an unknown object, most likely a balloon with an angle reflector. Defense Express notes that russia has been noticed to use such kind of aircraft, as the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on February 12. There is also information that they were spotted today, February 14.
And it seems that the baloons also reached Romania. About 12:30 an object with quite similar characteristics was spotted in the airspace of that country on ground radars. It was at an altitude of 11 km in the southeast of Romania. According to the Defense Romania, сiting the representative of the Romanian Air Force, General Constantin Spânu, a pair of MiG-21 LanceR was raised to intercept this object at 12:40.
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But the pilots did not find it, either visually or with the help of on-board radars. At the same time, the search operation continued for 30 minutes.
Defense Express reminds that the Romanian MiG-21 LanceR underwent global modernization, including the radar, which was replaced by the Israeli EL/M-2032 radar. That is, the problem is not with the obsolescence of systems.
But, as the article rightly points out, the fact is that the US Air Force has already encountered this problem while trying to intercept a probe that had flown in from China. Then, as reported by the American mass media, special settings were made to the radars of the fighters, which allowed to display targets moving at low speeds.
It is also impossible not to mention that on February 10, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that russia’s Kalibr cruise missile entered Romanian airspace. However, Bucharest reported that they did not record this, and a pair of MiG-21 LanceRs set of for interception, just like today, however did not confirm the missile's entry into NATO airspace.
Considering the fact that we are talking about balloons that go with the flow, then by raising the data on its direction, it is possible to estimate where these balloons were sent from. According to data from the Windy service, as of 12:00 on February 14, at an altitude of 10 km, the wind had a clear direction from north to south.
In view of this, it is possible to make an assumption that the launch of these balloons, in order for them to reach Romania, is carried out either from Belarus or from Bryansk oblast.
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