The Romanian pilot who shot down a drone in Estonia was decorated by Minister Radu Miruță and the Chief of Staff, General Gheorghiță Vlad
The Minister of National Defense, Radu Miruță, together with the Chief of the Defense Staff, General Gheorghiță Vlad, went on a working visit to the Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania on Friday, on which occasion they decorated Captain-Commander Costel-Alexandru Pavelescu, the pilot who shot down, on Tuesday, a Ukrainian drone that had entered the airspace of Estonia.
The MApN delegation, which also included the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Lieutenant General Leonard Baraboi, met with the soldiers of the Romanian “Carpathian Vipers” Detachment, on which occasion the Minister of National Defense conferred the “Peace Envoy Emblem, Class I” to pilot Costel-Alexandru Pavelescu.
“Behind that moment were years of training, discipline, hundreds of flight hours, coordination and an entire team that did its duty correctly. That's why my thanks go to the entire Carpathian Vipers detachment, to each of the almost 100 Romanian soldiers who are performing this mission here in Lithuania”, said Radu Miruță, according to a press release from MApN.
In the discussions with the Romanian pilots deployed in Šiauliai, the main responsibilities of the Romanian military in the Enhanced Air Police mission in the Baltic airspace, the cooperation with the allies in the current missions, as well as the main challenges of the mission in Lithuania were presented.
Romanian pilots, for the fourth time in Lithuania
Romania is present with pilots and planes in the Baltic countries for the fourth time since 2007.
“As the Minister of National Defense, I tell you very clearly that I will continue to do everything in my power so that the Romanian Army receives the equipment, technology and capabilities it needs. Thank you for your professionalism, for your seriousness and for the way you represent Romania here in Šiauliai”, Miruță also said.
On the sidelines of the visit, the Minister of National Defense had a bilateral meeting with his Lithuanian counterpart, Robertas Kaunas, in the context of which concrete topics were addressed regarding the security of NATO's Eastern Flank and the adaptation of defense capabilities to new types of threats.
Minister Miruță communicated to Kaunas his intention to propose the inclusion on the agenda of the Ankara summit of a consistent discussion on disinformation as a major security risk, supporting the need for a common approach of the Eastern Alliance states and the Baltic countries, based on the concrete experiences and challenges they face on a daily basis.
A Romanian F-16 military plane from NATO's air police force for the Baltic countries shot down a drone of Ukrainian origin in Estonia on Tuesday, diverted from its trajectory aimed at an objective on Russian territory.
“Being on an air police mission in Lithuania, on behalf of Romania, aboard a Romanian F16 fighter jet, Captain Commander Pavelescu Costel-Alexandru managed to frame, engage and ground a drone that entered Estonian airspace,” Minister Miruță said on Tuesday.
