France is extending the deployment of a maritime patrol aircraft to Romania by several weeks, its commander said on Thursday, as attacks on merchant ships in the Black Sea push the Russia-Ukraine war ever closer to NATO's eastern flank.

Source: Reuters via gCaptain

The Atlantique 2 — an aircraft designed to detect submarines, warships and small threats including sea drones and mines — was temporarily relocated to Romania's Mihail Kogalniceanu air base on October 18, after NATO members Romania and Bulgaria asked the alliance for reinforcements. It had initially been deployed only until November 6.

Source: Reuters via gCaptain

"The Atlantique 2 presence will be maintained for a few weeks from now on. We are here to ensure the safety of navigation of the commercial traffic in the Black Sea," the aircraft's commander said. The commander was not named by the French naval forces for security reasons.

Nine ships hit in October, dozens of sailors dead or missing

At least nine cargo ships were hit near the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria in October, with some 34 sailors reported dead or missing, Reuters reported. Maritime security firm Ambrey told a Lloyd's List briefing it had recorded 696 security events in the western Black Sea alone, about 537 of them in Ukrainian waters, and 10 strikes on ships at sea between October 5 and October 28 — eight by aerial drones and two by uncrewed surface vessels — all of which Ambrey attributed to Russia.

Source: gCaptain / Lloyd's List briefing

The French plane detected the three sea drones that ultimately struck and sank the Greek-owned container vessel Contship Jet in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone on October 28, the commander said. The crew was warned an hour before the drones struck and came away unscathed; Bulgarian vessels rescued all 18 crew members and no casualties were reported in that sinking.

Source: Reuters via gCaptain

"We are a surveillance aircraft," the commander said. "We are able to detect. We are not able to neutralize and intercept these kind of drones."

Who is behind the attacks? The claims, attributed

A NATO official told Newsweek that NATO intelligence had confirmed Russian sea drones struck and sank the Contship Jet just outside Bulgaria's territorial waters, and that a second intelligence source identified the drones as Russian with what the official described as full certainty. Bulgaria's Prime Minister Rumen Radev stopped short of confirming Russia was responsible, while pledging to summon the Russian envoy to Sofia if that were established. Russia has denied targeting Ukraine's neighbours.

Source: Newsweek / NATO official via EuropeSays

NATO said this week it had committed to investing more than $40 billion — yaani roughly ₹3.5 lakh crore — in counter-drone capabilities over the next five years, and described its commitment to defending all its members, including those on the Black Sea, as "ironclad."

Why it matters beyond the Black Sea

The Black Sea is shared by Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia and Turkey as well as Ukraine and Russia, and is crucial for world shipments of grain, oil and oil products. Maritime experts quoted by Lloyd's List warned that the westward spread of attacks toward NATO coastlines is now having commercial consequences, as shipping firms weigh whether to keep sending vessels into the western Black Sea — a route whose disruption can push up freight, insurance and grain prices far beyond the region, including for importers in India.

What happens next: the French aircraft keeps flying surveillance from Romania for several more weeks, while NATO members on the Black Sea wait to see whether the promised counter-drone investment turns into ships and systems that can actually stop sea drones — something the French commander openly noted a patrol plane alone cannot do.