{"id":118795,"date":"2026-07-31T07:58:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T04:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/the-first-statements-of-the-romanian-f-16-pilot-who-shot-down-two-drones-we-didnt-know-why-we-were-taking-off\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T13:04:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T10:04:50","slug":"the-first-statements-of-the-romanian-f-16-pilot-who-shot-down-two-drones-we-didnt-know-why-we-were-taking-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/the-first-statements-of-the-romanian-f-16-pilot-who-shot-down-two-drones-we-didnt-know-why-we-were-taking-off\/","title":{"rendered":"The first statements of the Romanian F-16 pilot who shot down two drones. “We didn’t know why we were taking off”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The military pilot from the air forces who shot down two drones that had unauthorizedly entered our country’s airspace has a message for Romanians: “We are there to protect them, day and night, seven days a week, all year round!”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

In his first public reaction after last weekend’s success, given in an interview published on Thursday by the Ministry of National Defense, the pilot provided details about the two combat missions, emphasizing: “We didn’t know why we were taking off, but we knew we were going to defend our country.”<\/p>\n\n

The interview was published without revealing the identity of the Romanian pilot.<\/p>\n\n

Details about drones: “One quickly descended, while the other, perhaps, took longer than the first interception”<\/h2>\n\n
\n

“The alarm rang several times during the night, until the following morning. But, we were there to respond promptly, with the certainty that any mission should be treated as such. We didn’t know what we were taking off for, but we knew that we were going to defend our country”<\/em>, the pilot affirms.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

When asked which of the two missions was more difficult, he stated: “I would say that both were equally demanding. Neither had any particularity. Moreover, each required the same level of focus in order to be able to take down the target. One was quickly brought down, while the other, perhaps, took a longer time than the first interception.”<\/p>\n\n

Details, HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The military pilot from the air forces who shot down two drones that had unauthorizedly entered our country’s airspace has a message for Romanians: “We are there to protect them, day and night, seven days a week, all year round!” In his first public reaction after last weekend’s success, given in an interview published on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":118726,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1135],"tags":[8923,15659,13888,8912,11492,12114],"class_list":["post-118795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-foreign-affairs-en","tag-drone-en","tag-f-16","tag-pilot","tag-romania-en-2","tag-selection","tag-statements"],"yoast_head":"\nThe first statements of the Romanian F-16 pilot who shot down two drones. 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