Anti-drone Protection in military ports
Romania’s Navy is testing the new anti-drone systems, Black Talon, built by the US Navy for the protection of its Black Sea and Danube ports
Daniela Budu, 17.09.2026, 14:00
The Romanian Black Sea and Danube ports will be defended by modern equipment designed to destroy air and sea drones.
Romania’s naval forces have already started testing a new anti-drone shield in the military port of Constanta at the Black Sea, a Black Talon-type item of equipment which is to become operational by the end of the year. Other three units are to be made available by the US Navy and installed in the military ports close to the border with Ukraine – at Braila, Tulcea and Mangalia. The aforementioned equipment can detect threats from a distance of 10 kilometers and can jam and destroy both air and sea drones. In order to increase security around its ports, the Romanian Navy will install Sentinel-type systems, which can detect underwater vehicles, but also war divers and even mini-submarines.
Here is Commander Alexandru Mitel with more on this issue.
Alexandru Mitel: “These Sentinel and Black Talon systems will be installed in all ports, Brăila, Tulcea, Mangalia and Constanţa. We need to protect the important national infrastructure. We are running partnerships and are cooperating with the Romanian Naval Authorities, the Constanta Ports Administration, the Border Police in order to share information and get the best air and underwater images at the level of military ports.”
The two systems play different roles, but are completing each other in their mission of protecting certain areas. The first one – Sentinel – is military equipment for detecting the surface and underwater drones. It is using sonars and high-tech sensors to discover fast unmanned boats or drones that may threaten the ports. The system is detecting and monitoring them and decides if they are a threat to the protected area. Then it sends data to the systems, which can intervene to neutralize them, in this case the Black Talon. Whenever a drone enters a protected area, the aforementioned security equipment is detecting and monitoring it. The system can jam it, which means that it cuts the radio connection between the drone and its operator to neutralize it. Operators are being trained in this period so that the aforementioned systems may become operational by the end of the year and start monitoring threats around the military ports. Once operational, these systems will be defending the port area of NATO’s eastern flank and implicitly Romania’s south-eastern part.
The measures come after the recent repeated incidents around the Romanian Black Sea coast. The severest suchlike incident was registered on June 5, when a sea drone entered the port of Constanta and exploded and the one on August 26, when a drone piece was washed ashore in a seaside resort on the Romanian Black Sea coast.
(bill)
