How can Romania be defended at sea? “We must have the whole package: the law, the people, the technical means, and the institutions prepared to defend the country”
Commander (r) Sandu Valentin Mateiu believes that we escaped a catastrophe in the Port of Constanța, but we urgently need solutions. In an analysis for “Adevărul”, Mateiu says that everything stems from the mumbling of the authorities and the poor equipment of the Naval Forces, but also from the legislative loopholes.
The self-detonating drone put an entire city in danger. PHOTO: Facebook
At the meeting on Saturday, June 6, convened by President Nicușor Dan following the crisis situation in Constanta, the Minister of Defense, Radu Miruță, the Minister of the Interior, Cătălin Predoiu, the presidential adviser Marius-Gabriel Lazurcă, the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Vlad Gheorghiță, the Chief of Staff of the Naval Forces, Vice Admiral Mihai Panait, and the head of DSU, Raed Arafat.
What conclusions did the authorities reach?
The president reaffirmed that Romania was only informed at 10:00 a.m. by the Ukrainian side about the fact that the maritime drone was scheduled to self-detonate in less than half an hour. He thus confirmed the previous statements of the Minister of Defense, Radu Miruță, which, however, were contested by a part of public opinion. At the same time, Nicușor Dan contradicted the information about the lack of coordination between the institutions involved in the drone crisis in Constanța.
“It was also said that there was no coordination between the state institutions involved. There is a protocol that defines what each of the authorities does. This protocol was respected. We had a situation where we had a drone with military cargo in a civilian area. The army and the SRI came to the scene. They alerted the civil protection authorities to clear the area of people, so that they would not be put in danger. The protocol was respected”said Nicușor Dan.
He denied that Ukrainian drones wanted to hit a Russian ghost ship and promised that Romania would acquire new military capabilities.
If the security issues of the Black Sea are rarely and rather marginally discussed by the allies, and specialists say that there is a major imbalance between the northern eastern flank, Baltic, and the southern flank, from the Black Sea, the head of state showed optimism and also stated that the situation of the Pontic area will be debated at the next NATO meeting.
He stammers every step of the way
Reserve commander and former intelligence officer analyst of the MApN, Sandu Valentin Mateiu, in the discussion with “Adevărul”, refers to the stammering and shortcomings of the authorities in the case of the drone in Constanța and to the way things apparently work and how they should work in reality.
The Complex System for Observation, Surveillance and Traffic Control at the Black Sea should be more efficient and provide the data so necessary for an intervention in a timely manner.
“There is an element that centralizes. The SCOMAR (Complex System of Observation, Surveillance and Control of Traffic in the Black Sea) sees everything: that there are radars, that there are optoelectronic systems and so on. You have a command and control center, so there must be a decision-making element. This element decides, depending on the situation, when any vessel that presents a danger appears and is classified and subsequently identified, whether it is transporting immigrants or could be transporting substances stunning, whether it's a battleship or a direct threat like this naval drone. Finally, a decision is made and the action element kicks in.” says the expert.
From here, either the Coast Guard ships, subordinated to the MAI, or those of the Romanian Naval Forces, subordinated to the MApN, come into action, or should come into action.
“The ships of the Coast Guard, respectively of the Naval Forces or the aviation, act in the end and neutralize that danger. All these things must be discussed today and I am convinced that they will be addressed by the president with the responsible factors. In the end, we must ensure only one thing: so that in the future we do not end up in a situation where a drone is not seen, no decision is made, it is not engaged combatant and reaches the port of Constanța”he says.
Why SCOMAR is important
The debate that remains is who should act directly and how to determine whether a case falls within the purview of the Coast Guard or the Navy.
“This is where the specialists should determine very precisely, because I, you know, no longer work there and look at things from the outside. There is, as I said, this system, SCOMAR, which finally collects the data from these radars and optoelectronic systems. It was made with a lot of Romanian money and with European funds. It integrates everything and gives you, in a command and control center, an overview of the entire situation in our waters, where we have responsibility: territorial waters, the area contiguous, exclusive economic zone, with certain parameters”, adds the expert.
Sandu Valentin Mateiu. PHOTO: Video capture
There are, of course, cases where the radars fail to notice what is happening in time. In the case of small naval drones, they can be spotted from a mile, or at best two. Sometimes this can be too late, hence the need for the most sophisticated and modern radars and objectives.
“Now it depends on how far you can see a small target. A six meter craft you can't see at 24 miles or 12, but you can see it at a mile or two with the optoelectronic systems, if you don't see it with the radar. Ultimately, once you have that image through the Home Office system, the decision is made to act on a vessel that is a threat.”he says.
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When Coast Guard vessels intervene
If vessels carrying drugs or immigrants are unidentified, Coast Guard vessels normally intervene. However, it is not as clear what happens in the event of a military threat, given the insufficient endowments of the Naval Forces.
“They intervene with Coast Guard ships, which is natural when you have ships identified as carrying narcotics or immigrants. In the situation where they are warships or military threats, this is an internal matter – it is not clear to me now, because I have not seen the current procedures, how it is regulated: either Coast Guard ships, or Navy ships act to engage that target. I think these things are clear within the system, but in the end, everyone must take responsibility and act appropriately. So, as a summary: we have the SCOMAR, the Border Police and the Coast Guard are at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, while the Naval Forces are at the Ministry of Defense. After today's discussions in Constanța, I hope that things will be resolved from a procedural point of view of this kind“, he explains.
Difficult to defend with our weapons the gas platforms in the Black Sea
A less discussed issue is who will defend the Black Sea gas platforms. The discussion is also sensitive because this critical infrastructure located in the exclusive economic zone does not belong to Romanian territorial waters.
“There is a problem there, because we are talking about a critical infrastructure located in the exclusive economic zone. And in the exclusive economic zone you no longer have the same rights as in the territorial waters (those 12 nautical miles), and not even the same rights you have in the contiguous zone (the next 12 nautical miles), where you can carry out customs or tax police missions. In the exclusive economic zone, however, you have the right to defend your critical infrastructure that belongs to Romania. Even if it is operated of other companies, in the end it is a Romanian strategic property, and Romania has every right to defend its property. A limited security zone can be established around the platform, at a certain height in the airspace. But there, in no case can you say that it is territorial waters and that an incident represents a direct attack on Romanian territory. It is an infrastructure, it is not a military ship or an embassy, where, if you are attacked, you can immediately invoke NATO's Article 5. Here the discussion is longer: you can invoke an attack on strategic interests, and Romania must have an adequate response”points out the commander.
The biggest problem concerns the endowments of the Romanian Naval Forces, which have remained almost 37 years after the Ashes Revolution of the Romanian Army.
“Those who have positions and ranks in the Ministry of National Defence, in the Naval Forces or in the Coast Guard in the Ministry of the Interior must answer here. We all now have this unpleasant feeling that things have not gone as they should. You do not feel safe when you see that there is a problem of securing or alerting an entire port because a drone came in that was only discovered in the morning. This is the problemma”, emphasizes Sandu Valentin Mateiu.
If Romania was lucky and a tragedy was avoided at the last moment, in Constanța, but also in Galați and in other places, the risks are that at some point something even more serious will happen. With regard to drones, while these legislative loopholes exist, the role of policymakers is to clearly state and expedite the process by which commanders have every right to open fire.
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“Somehow they give us the impression that we live in Romania, that's fine, but no one likes to say it directly. And in Galați, and in Constanța, we were at the limit of luck. At sea, we very likely have a legal basis, because I remember the cases in which the Coast Guard vessels opened fire on Turkish fishing vessels that illegally entered our exclusive economic zone. I mean, in the end, if there are loopholes in the legislation, the role of the decision-makers is to clearly mention and speed up the process by which the commanders have every right to open fire. The lack of legislation can be invoked indefinitely. The politicians are to blame, they have sent the laws to the Constitutional Court… But it is a political area that I do not want to hear about. In reality, the necessary changes should be made that, in the end, we must have the whole package: both the law, and the people, and the technical means, and the institutions prepared to defend the country”, says the commander.
It could be solved at sea with machine gun fire
The surface drone could have been neutralized with a helicopter, a light ship or a large-caliber machine gun, Mateiu believes. A submarine, on the other hand, would not have helped much.
“No, against these marine surface drones a submarine would not have helped us. Whatever military equipment you have, each one has certain operational capabilities and limits. In the limit situation we're talking about, that surface drone could be engaged and neutralized quickly by a helicopter or a light ship; even with a heavy machine gun and the problem was solved. The basic idea was to see it in time and have a quick procedure to make the decision to send a ship interception there. The idea is that the Naval Forces urgently need new ships. Those from the Coast Guard have been more fortunate, they have renewed the fleet through European funds, and they have machine guns with which they have opened fire on the poachers in the past.” concludes Sandu Valentin Mateiu.
