What is the “Carpathian Vipers” detachment of which the Romanian plane that shot down a drone in Estonia is a part and why is Romania sending F-16 fighter jets to the Baltic countries
A detachment from the Romanian Air Force has been carrying out a Reinforced Air Police mission in the Baltic airspace since April 1. Called “Carpathian Vipers”. The detachment consists of six F-16 fighter jets and about 100 military personnel.
A Romanian F-16 plane shot down a Ukrainian drone over Estonia on Tuesday, marking the first target hit and shot down over a Baltic country, but also the first downing of a Romanian military plane in the modern era.
Romania, the fourth air police mission in the Baltic area
The Romanian “Carpathian Vipers” detachment, with six F-16 Fighting Falcon combat aircraft, is deployed in Lithuania, at the Šiauliai Air Base, and provides the Reinforced Air Police Service between April and July 2026.
The current mission marks the fourth deployment of Romanian fighter jets in the Baltic area, after those in 2025, 2023 and 2007.
In recent years, deployments of the Romanian Air Force have been made with modern F-16 aircraft, while in 2007 Romania sent four MiG-21 LanceR aircraft.
Why is NATO sending fighter jets to the Baltic countries?
Since 2004, when Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined NATO, the allies have started air policing missions from the Lithuanian Siauliai base because the three countries, being small in size, do not have their own air forces.
After Russia invaded Crimea, missions were flown from Ämari Air Base, Estonia, as part of NATO's assurance measures for its eastern allies.
Fighter jets assigned to NATO's air policing mission in the Baltic Sea are often launched to visually identify Russian Federation Air Force aircraft. Much of the flying activity of the Russian Federation Air Force is due to the geographical position of the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad; Russian aircraft regularly fly from mainland Russia to Kaliningrad and vice versa.
They often approach or fly close to NATO airspace without using transponders, communicating with air traffic controllers or having filed a flight plan.
Just recently, Romanian F-16s deployed in Lithuania intercepted Russian military planes over the Baltic Sea.
How many F-16s does Romania have and why have they not shot down any Russian drones so far?
At the moment, Romania operates 38 F-16 aircraft, all AM/BM models, undergoing modernization processes. In total, Romania will end up relying operationally on 49 such combat devices – the first 17 bought from Portugal, and the next 32 from Norway.
Another 18 F-16 aircraft were transferred to Romanian ownership by the Netherlands, but they will be used at the European F-16 Pilot Training Center at Fetești Air Base.
Romanian F-16s are the ones that are frequently raised in the air upon every detection of Russian drones approaching and even entering the national airspace, especially during Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure on the Danube.
In the public space, there have been many criticisms that the F-16 planes raised by Romania cannot effectively counter Russian drones.
MApN communicated that fighter pilots who take off on alert missions, frequent in the Delta area, are allowed to shoot down aerial targets, but that they decide at the moment whether it is necessary to open fire and whether such an action is justified or can be done safely. Either it is the danger of collateral damage caused by an interception, or through the prism of economic disproportionality – to launch air-to-air guided missiles against cheap drones, which sometimes they are just decoys, with no lethal payload.
