Bulgarian defense chief: Drones that sank ship came from the east, 'we are not at war'
After the Contship Jet sank off Cape Kaliakra, Bulgaria's outgoing defense chief said the drones came from the east. A new system with a 150-kilometer radius is to be deployed starting Friday.
Archive image · Photo: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (cropped and resized)
The drones that struck the container ship Contship Jet off Cape Kaliakra on Wednesday, before it sank, came from an easterly direction, Bulgaria's outgoing Chief of Defense Adm. Emil Eftimov told broadcaster bTV on Thursday. He did not say who was behind the attack, saying the data was still being analyzed and had been shared with national and allied bodies. The drones did not enter Bulgarian territorial waters. "We are not at war," Eftimov said, adding that the country is protected.
Aircraft, helicopters and unmanned systems were on standby, but heavy weather limited their use, he said, stressing that Bulgaria has no authority to act outside its territorial waters. Amendments to the Defense Act are planned to let the military react faster in peacetime. A new system with a radius of about 150 kilometers is to be deployed starting Friday, initially for aerial surveillance and later also for strikes.
Eftimov said the navy received more than 100 reports of objects at sea over the summer that were not made public. Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey are to discuss concrete joint protection measures at a meeting in Ankara before the end of November. The area around the wreck will be surveyed and water samples taken.