The warhead of the munition that hit the sunken ship in the Black Sea probably weighed over 300 kilograms. This was stated by Prof. Dimitar Nedyalkov, a lecturer at the Military Academy, in the program “Offensive with Lyubo Ognyanov“ on NOVA NEWS.
“The investigation must continue before making definitive conclusions about the causes and means used for the attack“, said Nedyalkov. According to him, there is an established methodology for clarifying such incidents and it must be followed.
His comment comes after the attack on October 6, in which two merchant ships were hit in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone. The Togolese-flagged Alpha Watan suffered critical structural damage and sank. There were 12 Syrian sailors on board, who have not been found.
The other ship, the Palauan-flagged Able, was engulfed in fire, but all 18 of its crew were rescued. A subsequent inspection of the vessel found no remains of a drone. Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said that the visible damage indicated that the strike was carried out by a surface drone, but there was not enough evidence to establish its origin.
Expert rules out smaller ammunition
Nedyalkov pointed out that new modifications of the Russian Geran 5 drones and “Geran 6“ develop high speed, which makes it difficult to intercept them. According to him, the warhead of “Geran 6“ is about 90 kilograms.
“It is unlikely that such a device could have caused the sinking of a ship in about three minutes“, said the professor. He admitted that the damage was caused by a more powerful ammunition, but stressed that this remains an expert assessment, not an established fact.
Nedyalkov also said that Russia and Ukraine have surface drones capable of hitting vessels at a long distance. According to him, the range of some of the systems reaches 1000 kilometers, and their warheads can be between 600 and 800 kilograms.
No perpetrator has been officially identified
So far, the Bulgarian authorities have not indicated which party is behind the attack. After inspecting “Able“, Dimitar Stoyanov stated that “it is impossible to comment on whose drone it is, let alone say whether there is a third party“. The minister added that no debris was found on the sunken ship that would identify the device.
According to Nedyalkov, Bulgaria has limited capabilities to respond to such threats. He described the detection of drones as the most difficult task and called for investments in electronic warfare, anti-drone systems and rearmament of the armed forces.
Sources: nova.bg, bntnews.bg, btvnovinite.bg