Romanian military divers destroyed two Gerbera-type unmanned aerial vehicles found drifting in the country's exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea, near the Neptun Deep offshore gas project. The incident took place on August 11, according to Romania's Ministry of National Defense and Defense Minister Radu Miruță.
The drones were spotted by a civilian vessel conducting work near the offshore platform. They were located roughly 90 nautical miles, or more than 166 kilometers, east of Constanța, placing them well within Romania's maritime economic zone.
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A Romanian Coast Guard vessel carrying a specialized Explosive Ordnance Disposal team was dispatched to the area. The military subsequently identified two Gerbera UAVs, which were considered potentially dangerous because they may have been carrying explosive payloads.
The drones were ultimately neutralized through controlled detonations carried out by Romanian EOD divers. Authorities also recovered a separate drone wing from the water, along with other debris of undetermined origin. The recovered fragment was assessed as posing no pyrotechnic threat.
Romania's Defense Ministry contacted its Ukrainian counterparts to establish whether the systems could have originated from Ukraine. According to Radu Miruță, Ukrainian officials confirmed that the drones did not belong to Ukrainian forces. Romanian authorities have not publicly established the drones' exact origin.
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