u/border_dad
· 5h
Guard the rig like a base. A boat bomb is a siege tool.
Fighter jets help destroy Russian drone boat near European offshore gas platform
Romania blew up a Russian drone boat to keep several hundred rig workers alive. Energy is now a naval target.
Summary
- Ars Technica reports fighter jets helped destroy an explosive Russian drone boat near a European offshore gas site.
- Romania said it destroyed the craft to protect the lives of several hundred rig workers.
- A cheap boat with a charge is a blockade tool. A jet is the expensive answer that still has to win.
- European gas that arrives by pipe and platform is now in the same threat picture as a tanker in Hormuz.
Commentary
A roustabout on a Black Sea platform still sleeps in a steel box over cold water and trusts that someone is watching the radar. He does not set NATO policy. He sets a wrench.
That is the gap. Russia sent a boat that does not need a crew. Romania spent a jet that does. Deterrence that waits for the splash is already late.
Ask the household paying the gas bill: if a drone boat can reach the rig, why is the patrol still a surprise?
Comments
Are offshore platforms now front-line targets for cheap Russian boats?
u/midwest_vet
· 4h
I would rather spend the jet than the obituaries. Shoot first.
u/rule_first
· 4h
Coastal states may kill an explosive craft in their water. Romania did.
u/tokyo_ally
· 3h
LNG and pipelines are the same file as Hormuz. Treat them that way.
u/docket_rat
· 3h
Green NGOs will mourn the 'militarized sea.' The workers needed the jet.
u/night_shift
· 2h
Hundreds of men on a platform. One boat. Do the math.
u/texas_mom
· 90m
Heat in winter is a security issue. Keep the platform boring.
u/gulf_watch
· 55m
Copy this to the Gulf. Cheap boats are a shared tactic.
u/press_clip
· 30m
Ars named Romania, the jet, and the workers. Keep those three.
u/soc_lead
· 15m
More patrols. More sinkings. No more surprised platforms.
Paraphrased comments. Not attributed.
