BUCHAREST, Aug. 17 -- On Saturday night, a Spanish Air Force F-18 on NATO's Enhanced Air Policing mission fired on a drone over Romanian territory and brought it down. The intercept was the fourth time in 2026 that NATO air defenses have engaged an unmanned aircraft straying from the Ukraine conflict into alliance airspace. Each previous incident ended without political consequence. Whether this one will is the question sitting on desks in Brussels and Bucharest on Sunday.

Romania's Defense Minister Radu Miruta said his pilots accomplished "a successful mission." NATO spokesman Martin O'Donnell confirmed the alliance acted within its mandate, noting that "additional details regarding Sunday's incident remain under investigation, but the ...