NATO Weighs Moving Anti-Drone Systems to Black Sea as Bulgaria Joins Drone Edge and a Tanker Burns Off Romania

NATO is weighing whether to pull existing counter-drone systems into the Black Sea region, diplomats told Politico, after formal requests from Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey. The requests follow five attacks on merchant ships inside the exclusive economic zones of NATO members between Oct. 5 and Oct. 13.

No decision has been announced.

Bulgaria signs on to Drone Edge

On Wednesday, Oct. 14, Bulgarian Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov told Parliament that Bulgaria will join NATO's Drone Edge initiative. Participating countries have committed a combined $40 billion over five years to build counter-drone capabilities, according to The Sofia Globe.

Stoyanov also said Sofia has stepped up coordination with the other affected allies. Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey are working on a joint initiative to protect freedom of navigation in the Black Sea. Prime Minister Rumen Radev plans to present it to the European Union this week.

A five-year funding program does not put a single interceptor on the water this month. The Black Sea shipping lanes are exposed now.

Another ship on fire off Romania

A Comoros-flagged chemical and oil tanker, the Yara J, caught fire while anchored in Romanian territorial waters, and its crew was evacuated, Romanian authorities said. Defence Minister Radu Miruta said Wednesday it is unclear whether a drone struck the vessel and that an investigation is pending.

The same day, multiple drones breached Romanian airspace near the Ukrainian border, according to Reuters. Nobody has linked those incursions to the tanker fire.

The attacks so far

The Turkish-owned Royad Mammadov was hit by drones and sank near Romania's coast on Oct. 5. The next day, aerial and sea drones sank the Togo-flagged Alfa Watan about 80 miles off Bulgaria and set the Palau-flagged Able on fire. All 18 crew on the Able were rescued, two of them hospitalized. The 10 crew on the Alfa Watan are presumed dead.

On Oct. 13, three aerial drones reportedly struck the Malta-flagged, Ukrainian-owned Chelsea 3. Bulgarian rescuers evacuated all 15 crew. The Guinea-Bissau-flagged Dignity sank. Five sailors were pulled from the water and 11 remain missing, with the search continuing.

Who did it: still unproven

Zelenskyy said after the Oct. 6 strike that Ukraine's Navy had established with Bulgarian counterparts that it was "a combined Russian attack using maritime and aerial drones," and that Ukrainian forces had conducted no operations in the area. The Russian Embassy in Bulgaria denied Russia targeted the vessel.

Radev has stopped short of attribution. He says there is no clear evidence of who carried out the Oct. 13 attacks, but told the Russian ambassador in Sofia that "it makes no sense for Ukraine to destroy its own ships in the Black Sea, and the results of these strikes favor Russia's interests." Among the vessels hit was the Ukrainian-operated Chelsea 3. The ambassador has been summoned.

Cameron Chell, founder of drone maker Draganfly, told Fox News Digital the Oct. 6 sinking looked like a combined air and surface attack, likely using a Geran-4 aerial drone or a Maran surface vehicle. He called it an escalation. That is one expert's read of the weapon type, not a finding of who launched it.

Ukraine's grain exports

About 95 percent of Ukraine's grain exports pass through Black Sea ports. Shipping companies are reconsidering routes and insurers are reassessing risk. Some cargo is moving via the Danube, but drought and record-low water levels limit that route.

Ukraine's Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi has warned that millions of tonnes of unsold grain could pile up and leave farmers unable to finance the next sowing campaign. Maritime industry representatives say the threat of further strikes is also deterring financing for rebuilding Ukrainian ports.

NATO navies have avoided exercises in the Black Sea since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Moving counter-drone systems in would put the alliance's own assets in the water for the first time in that period.

Two items are pending: the alliance's answer to the Bulgarian, Romanian and Turkish requests, and the Romanian investigation into the Yara J fire. Radev's navigation-security initiative is due before EU officials this week. Meanwhile, search crews are still looking for the 11 missing Dignity sailors.