Fighter jets help destroy Russian drone boat near European offshore gas platform

战斗机协助摧毁欧洲海上天然气平台附近的俄罗斯无人艇

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. 本周，罗马尼亚指责俄罗斯向黑海一处至关重要的欧洲天然气平台派遣了一艘装载炸药的无人艇。罗马尼亚的一架 F-16 战斗机使用机炮瘫痪了这艘水面无人艇，随后爆炸物处理专家将其安全引爆。

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. 8 月 20 日，罗马尼亚国防部长拉杜·米鲁察（Radu Miruță）在 Facebook 上发文称，罗马尼亚海岸警卫队在距离“海王星深海”（Neptun Deep）项目主钻井平台几百米处首次发现了这艘海上无人艇，当时有数百名工人正在忙于平台的安装工作。该海上天然气项目一旦在 2027 年全面投产，将使罗马尼亚成为欧盟最大的天然气生产国。

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. 米鲁察表示，为了保护工人的生命安全和海上天然气基础设施，罗马尼亚军方紧急出动了两架 F-16 战斗机，通过机炮射击阻止了该无人艇。正如国防部长分享的 Facebook 视频所示，陆军专家随后进行了受控引爆。据路透社报道，米鲁察评论称，该无人艇本身据信携带了爆炸物。

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.” 罗马尼亚总统直接将此次事件归咎于俄罗斯。罗马尼亚总统尼库什尔·丹（Nicușor Dan）在社交媒体平台 X 上发文称：“我强烈谴责俄罗斯联邦加剧此类不负责任的事件。我们将与北约盟国保持警惕，以捍卫自身并击退此类挑战。”

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. 这是本月发生的第二起涉及疑似俄罗斯无人机在“海王星深海”海上天然气站点附近的事件。8 月 11 日，罗马尼亚军方摧毁了两架在“海王星深海”站点附近的黑海海域漂浮的俄罗斯制造的飞行无人机。在这两起事件中，罗马尼亚均与乌克兰伙伴确认，这些无人机不属于乌克兰军方。

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. Sutton highlighted features such as a “large hinged hangar in the forward hull” that may have allowed the drone boat to carry missiles or aerial drones. He also pointed to two flat antennas that may have enabled satellite communications with services such as Starlink, along with radar and other sensors. 据运营“Covert Shores”网站的独立海军专家 H.I.萨顿（H.I. Sutton）称，在“海王星深海”平台附近发现的这艘无人艇类型不明，与俄罗斯此前部署的水面无人艇不同。萨顿强调了该艇的一些特征，例如“前船体有一个大型铰链式机库”，这可能使无人艇能够携带导弹或空中无人机。他还指出，该艇配备的两根扁平天线可能使其能够通过星链（Starlink）等服务进行卫星通信，并配备了雷达和其他传感器。

The escalation spiral / 升级螺旋

The Neptun Deep project may be a tempting target for Russia because it represents a crucial energy site for the European Union. Once fully operational, the platform would double Romania’s gas production and help supply gas to other European countries such as Germany and Moldova, according to Reuters. “海王星深海”项目对俄罗斯来说可能是一个诱人的目标，因为它代表了欧盟至关重要的能源站点。据路透社报道，该平台一旦全面投入运营，将使罗马尼亚的天然气产量翻倍，并有助于向德国和摩尔多瓦等其他欧洲国家供应天然气。

The broader Black Sea has become a hotly contested battleground since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Despite lacking many traditional naval ships, Ukraine has used flying drones, missiles, and drone boats to damage and destroy Russian warships both at sea and in port. Ukrainian drone strikes have also choked off Russian energy and grain shipping in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea, while simultaneously targeting “shadow fleet” vessels flagged to other countries that carry sanctioned Russian oil and gas. 自 2022 年俄罗斯对乌克兰发动全面入侵以来，广阔的黑海已成为激烈争夺的战场。尽管缺乏许多传统海军舰艇，但乌克兰已利用飞行无人机、导弹和无人艇在海上和港口损坏并摧毁了俄罗斯军舰。乌克兰的无人机袭击还切断了俄罗斯在亚速海和黑海的能源和粮食运输，同时瞄准了悬挂其他国家旗帜、运输受制裁俄罗斯石油和天然气的“影子船队”船只。

But Russia has struck back by targeting ships and the ports that support most of Ukraine’s grain exports. Such constraints could lead to a global food crisis if European countries don’t help Ukraine find alternative ways to export its large grain harvest, said Cristian Vlas, Eastern Europe assistant research manager at the nonprofit conflict monitor ACLED, in a post on August 19. 但俄罗斯也进行了反击，目标是支持乌克兰大部分粮食出口的船只和港口。非营利性冲突监测机构 ACLED 的东欧助理研究经理克里斯蒂安·弗拉斯（Cristian Vlas）在 8 月 19 日的一篇文章中表示，如果欧洲国家不帮助乌克兰找到出口其大量粮食收成的替代途径，这种限制可能会导致全球粮食危机。

Both Russian and Ukrainian drones have also sometimes strayed into the airspace of European countries such as Romania. Some of the incidents have been attributed to electronic warfare jamming sending drones off course, but others have been described as deliberate Russian provocations. On August 16, two Spanish F-18 fighter jets deployed in Romania for a NATO mission intercepted and destroyed a drone that a NATO spokesperson described as being of Russian origin, CBS News reported. Meanwhile, US intelligence experts have described Russia as likely being responsible for an attempted drone attack on Ukrainian cargo aircraft parked at Leipzig airport in Germany. The German government has yet to formally accuse Russia of being responsible. 俄罗斯和乌克兰的无人机有时也会误入罗马尼亚等欧洲国家的领空。其中一些事件被归因于电子战干扰导致无人机偏离航线，但另一些则被描述为俄罗斯的蓄意挑衅。据哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）新闻报道，8 月 16 日，两架部署在罗马尼亚执行北约任务的西班牙 F-18 战斗机拦截并摧毁了一架无人机，北约发言人称该无人机源自俄罗斯。与此同时，美国情报专家表示，俄罗斯很可能对停在德国莱比锡机场的乌克兰货机遭到的无人机袭击企图负责。德国政府尚未正式指控俄罗斯对此负责。