New Strategy Center participated in the Annual Conference of the Maritime Security Forum, organized by the Admirals’ Club Association in Constanța, on 1–2 October.

NSC was represented by Rear Admiral (ret.) Iuri Covaleov and Rear Admiral (ret.) Liviu Coman, NSC Senior Associate Experts, who participated as speakers in the panel entitled “Defence of Critical Maritime Infrastructure and a Possible Romanian Hybrid Fleet.”

Rear Admiral (ret.) Iuri-Alexandru Covaleov highlighted that the strategic premise we should start from is that the Black Sea can no longer be viewed exclusively as a military space. For Romania, it simultaneously represents a space of security, transportation, energy, communications, trade, and strategic mobility. Ports, energy terminals, offshore installations, pipelines, subsea cables, shipping lanes, Danube infrastructure, and logistics facilities together form an interconnected strategic ecosystem. Consequently, the vulnerability of a single component can have cascading effects on other essential functions.

He also pointed out that, if we are to discuss a Hybrid Fleet, it should also be regarded as an industrial programme, as, in a crisis situation, the ability to repair, replace, and adapt platforms is just as important as their initial number. In conclusion, he underlined that the experience of the war in the Black Sea demonstrates the value of integrating sensors, intelligence, unmanned systems, communications, and distributed effects. However, the exact transferability of these lessons to Romania must be assessed in light of its geography, missions, legislation, interoperability, and the structure of the Romanian Armed Forces.

Rear Admiral (ret.) Liviu Coman underlined that the transformations in the security environment in the Black Sea region require an integrated approach to maritime defence, the protection of national critical infrastructure, and the strengthening of Romania’s energy resilience.

In this context, the Neptun Deep project takes on major strategic importance for regional energy security, while the protection of offshore infrastructure is becoming a national security priority.

The launch of a Neptun Deep Sentry initiative, along the lines of Baltic Sentry, reflects the need to strengthen maritime surveillance, ensure early detection of threats, and enhance interinstitutional coordination to protect critical infrastructure in the Black Sea.