Media: Romania in talks with Ukraine on EU-funded drone production

Romania has opened discussions with Ukraine on producing drones under a new European Union defence funding programme.

As reported by Reuters, Russian drones targeting Ukraine have crossed into Romanian airspace in recent years, dropping debris on its territory more than 20 times.

"We need more air defences, nobody has them," a Romanian government defence source said.

The source added that Romania is negotiating with Ukraine, whose drone technology has been "battle tested at large scale", to produce unmanned systems as part of a project financed through the EU’s SAFE rearmament initiative.

Romania is to receive €16.6 billion under the SAFE programme.

Romania’s air defence currently includes F-16 fighter jets, Patriot systems, Lockheed Martin’s HIMARS rocket launchers, South Korean short-range surface-to-air missiles Chiron and German anti-aircraft self-propelled systems Gepard.

In May 2025, Ilie Bolojan, then acting Romanian president, signed a law expanding the Romanian armed forces’ powers, enabling troops to shoot down unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that are unlawfully in the country’s airspace.

On 13 September, Russian drones violated Romanian airspace.