This week, Romania accused Russia of sending a drone boat loaded with explosives to a vital European natural gas platform in the Black Sea. A Romanian F-16 fighter jet used its cannons to disable the surface drone so that explosive ordnance experts could blow it up safely.
On August 20, the Romanian Coast Guard first spotted the maritime drone a few hundred meters away from the Neptun Deep project’s main drilling platform, where several hundred workers were busy with the platform’s ongoing installation, Defense Minister Radu Miruță said in a Facebook post. The offshore gas project would make Romania the largest gas producer in the European Union once it starts full production in 2027.
To protect the lives of the workers and the offshore gas infrastructure, the Romanian military scrambled two F-16 fighter jets to stop the drone with cannon fire, Miruță said. Army specialists later carried out a controlled detonation, as seen in a Facebook video shared by the defense minister.
The drone boat itself supposedly carried explosives, according to Miruță’s comments, as reported by Reuters. Romania’s president blamed Russia directly for the incident.
“I strongly condemn the intensification of these types of irresponsible incidents on the part of the Russian Federation,” wrote Nicușor Dan, president of Romania, in a post on the social media platform X. “We remain vigilant alongside NATO allies to defend ourselves and repel such challenges.”
This marks the second incident involving suspected Russian drones near the Neptun Deep offshore gas site this month. On August 11, the Romanian military destroyed two Russian-made flying drones found floating in the Black Sea near the Neptun Deep site.
In both cases, Romania confirmed with Ukrainian partners that the drones did not belong to the Ukrainian military.
The drone boat found near the Neptun Deep platform is an unknown type that is different from surface drones previously deployed by Russia, according to H.I. Sutton, an independent naval expert who runs the website Covert Shores.