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NATO Shot Down a Drone Over Lithuania. What Comes Next
Finland Wants to Join the French Nuclear Umbrella
Germany Expects More Defence Orders From Ukraine
Oreshnik Missiles in Europe β Why No One Cares?
- Ars Technica - Gadgets
- Fighter jets help destroy Russian drone boat near European offshore gas platform
Fighter jets help destroy Russian drone boat near European offshore gas platform
This week, Romania accused Russia of sending a drone boat loaded with explosives to a vital European natural gas platform in the Black Sea. A Romanian F-16 fighter jet used its cannons to disable the surface drone so that explosive ordnance experts could blow it up safely.
On August 20, the Romanian Coast Guard first spotted the maritime drone a few hundred meters away from the Neptun Deep projectβs main drilling platform, where several hundred workers were busy with the platformβs ongoing installation, Defense Minister Radu MiruΘΔ said in a Facebook post. The offshore gas project would make Romania the largest gas producer in the European Union once it starts full production in 2027.
To protect the lives of the workers and the offshore gas infrastructure, the Romanian military scrambled two F-16 fighter jets to stop the drone with cannon fire, MiruΘΔ said. Army specialists later carried out a controlled detonation, as seen in a Facebook video shared by the defense minister.


Β© Romanian Ministry of Defense
Ukrainian drones wipe out entire US tank brigade in live war game
Ukrainian drone teams demolished a brigade of US Army tanks and armored vehicles during a live war game held this yearβbut the US soldiers were lucky enough to get βrespawnβ attempts while learning from the experience.
The semiannual military exercise, called Combined Resolve, gave the US military a firsthand taste of how modern drone warfare has evolved on the battlefields of Ukraine. The Ukrainian drone operators participating in the exercise were easily able to spot and destroy US armored vehicles by mimicking the actions of dropping bombs from above or moving close enough to simulate a kamikaze strike, according to US officials and a participant who spoke with The Wall Street Journal.
US armored vehicles were being destroyed so quickly that they were βrespawnedβ and sent back into the simulated fray, a US official told The Wall Street Journal. The US troops who participated in the exerciseβheld in Germany from April 9 to May 10βwere on rotational deployment from Fort Hood, Texas.


Β© Sgt. Joseph Mcdonald | US Army
Russian drones found near vital European offshore gas site, get blown up
Romanian army divers used explosives to destroy two Russian-made drones found floating in the Black Sea near Romaniaβs largest natural gas project, according to the NATO member countryβs defense minister.
Defense Minister Radu MiruΘΔ posted a Facebook video supposedly showing one of the drones being blown up in the water by explosive ordnance disposal divers of the Romanian army on August 11, as reported by Reuters and other news outlets. The drones were first spotted in the water by a ship working in the vicinity of the Neptun Deepβan offshore gas project under development in the Black Sea that will make Romania the largest gas producer in the European Union.
A Romanian Coast Guard ship that responded with army soldiers aboard found two drifting Gerbera-type drones of Russian design along with other debris. MiruΘΔ also disclosed that Romania had reached out to βUkrainian partners who confirmed that the systems do not belong to them.β


Β© Romanian Ministry of Defense
Russia Opens a Case Against Apple
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- Ars Technica - Gadgets
- Explosive drone found hovering near Ukrainian cargo aircraft at German airport
Explosive drone found hovering near Ukrainian cargo aircraft at German airport
German police disarmed a drone carrying explosives after it was discovered near Ukrainian cargo aircraft parked at Leipzig airportβand authorities are looking into the possibility of a second drone after an approaching aircraft collided with something midair.
The drone, first spotted by an airport employee,Β was hovering close to the ground between two parked An-124 cargo aircraft owned by Ukraineβs Antonov Airlines shortly before midnight on August 4, according to The Guardian. It had apparently been modified to help avoid detection by the airportβs drone defense sensors, said Alexander Dobrindt, federal minister of the interior for Germany, during a press conference.
Dobrindt described the drone as carrying a fist-sized package of a substance believed to be the plastic explosive Semtex. Only a failed detonator prevented the drone from exploding near the Ukrainian cargo aircraft, he said.


Β© Jens Schlueter/Getty Images
Explosive drone found hovering near Ukrainian cargo aircraft at German airport
German police disarmed a drone carrying explosives after it was discovered near Ukrainian cargo aircraft parked at Leipzig airportβand authorities are looking into the possibility of a second drone after an approaching aircraft collided with something midair.
The drone, first spotted by an airport employee,Β was hovering close to the ground between two parked An-124 cargo aircraft owned by Ukraineβs Antonov Airlines shortly before midnight on August 4, according to The Guardian. It had apparently been modified to help avoid detection by the airportβs drone defense sensors, said Alexander Dobrindt, federal minister of the interior for Germany, during a press conference.
Dobrindt described the drone as carrying a fist-sized package of a substance believed to be the plastic explosive Semtex. Only a failed detonator prevented the drone from exploding near the Ukrainian cargo aircraft, he said.


Β© Jens Schlueter/Getty Images