At least 10 European nations have experienced unexplained drone sightings over the past several months.
Several countries, including Lithuania, Latvia, Denmark, Norway, Romania, Poland, Estonia, Germany, and France, have experienced drone activity or disturbances within their borders during the last three months.
Denmark temporarily prohibited all commercial drone operations across the nation on September 29. Although the European Union has officially initiated a drone barrier initiativealong the eastern border with Russia, NATO has stated it is enhancing its watchfulness in the Baltic countries.
Here’s what has been observed so far and its location.
Lithuania
On 28 July, Lithuanian authoritiesstated that a drone had entered their country from Russia.
The nation’s defense minister, Dovile Sakaliene, stated that the drone was probably sent from Russia toward Ukraine but accidentally entered their airspace.
A drone was discovered a few days later, equipped with explosives in a military training zone, as reported by Lithuania’s prosecutor-general Nida Grunskiene. This followed another event in which a Russian drone entered Lithuanian airspace on July 10.
Lithuania requested NATO’s assistance in enhancing its air defense systems, with Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte agreeing on “immediate actions to reinforce air defense along NATO’s front line.”
Poland
On September 9, at least 19 Russian dronesflew overPoland’s airspace during what the nation’s central command referred to as an “act of aggression.”
The Polish military downed drones that “repeatedly breached” the nation’s airspace during the night, marking the first instance in which the country has directly confronted Russian assets since the beginning of the full-scale conflict in Ukraine in February 2022.
Following the drone observations, the Ukrainian Armed ForcessaidThey will be instructing their Polish colleagues on methods to counter drones.
Poland also deployed allied aircraftsduring a short preventive action on September 13 due to drone attacks in nearby areas of Ukraine.
On another occurrence on September 15, adronewas observed flying above the Belvedere presidential palace in the capital city of Warsaw and was taken out by the Polish State Protection Services.
Poland detainedA 17-year-old woman from Belarus and a 21-year-old man from Ukraine are involved in incidents where drones were flown over government buildings on September 16th. Polish authorities searched their residences and confirmed their legal status in Poland.
Romania
On September 8, a Russian droneviolatedRomanian airspace during night-time strikes in Ukraine, leading the national military to send F-16 fighter jets to patrol the nation’s skies.
A statementThe Romanian Ministry of National Defence issued “a strong message of condemnation” regarding the attacks conducted by Russia on Ukrainian “civilian targets and infrastructure,” which it described as a “serious violation” of international law.
On the same day, a different drone crashed in the eastern region of Latvia, originating from Belarusian airspace.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics stated onsocial media platform Xthat Latvia is carrying out an inquiry and “the government is maintaining close communication with its NATO allies”.
Another invasion in Romania took place on September 13, when Romania’s defense ministrysaidIt identified a Russian drone as two F-16s kept watch over the Romanian border with Ukraine.
The BBC identifiedthe drone known as Geran, the Russian term for the Shahed 136 suicide drone, which is being utilized by Russians in attacks against Ukraine.
It was spotted 20 kilometers ahead of the village of Chilia Veche before vanishing from the radar, according to the defense ministry.
Romanian authorities stated that it did not pass over densely populated regions or present any risk.
A new law enacted in Romania granted officials the power to shoot down the drone, but they chose not to.
Denmark and Norway
Last week, unmanned aerial vehicles were observed above five Danish airports: Copenhagen, Aalborg, Billund, Esbjerg, and Sønderborg, according to officials.coordinated attack.Both the Copenhagen and Aalborg airports were closed for several hours due to the presence of drones.
Danish and NATO officials stated that it was not immediately evident who was responsible for the drone operations, although they mentioned that Russian involvement remained a possibility.
Danish authorities say they consideredCalling upon NATO’s Article 4, as the Poles did, because it constituted a hybrid attack with a “systemic approach” near vital infrastructure, according to Troels Lund Poulsen, Denmark’s deputy prime minister.
The area above Oslo airport in Norway was shut down for about three hours on September 23, as reported byReuters, due to drone sightings, leading to flights being redirected to the closest airport.
Norwegian and Danish officials are collaborating in the examination of events in Copenhagen and Oslo, but have not yet determined a link between the two, as stated by Norway’s foreign minister.
The Danish defense ministry stated on September 28 that it hadobserveddrones at multiple military facilities the day prior, including the Skrydstrup Air Base in southern Denmark, and the Jutland Dragoon Regiment base.
The ministry stated that it activated multiple “resources” following the detection of drones from Saturday through Sunday night, but did not specify the number of resources deployed or their locations.
Numerous public sightings have also been documented, which have not yet been verified by officials as concerning, as reported by the Associated Press.
As preparations continue for the European Union Summit in Copenhagen, the government announced that all civilian drone operations will be suspended from Monday to Friday this week to “eliminate the possibility of enemy drones being mistaken for authorized ones and vice versa.”
Germany and Sweden are also assisting the nation during the summit by providing anti-drone capabilities, including “counter-small unmanned aircraft systems capabilities (C-sUAS),” which employ radar, visual, and sound technologies.
France
French military representatives informed localmediaunidentified drones were spotted flying over France’s Mourmelon-le-Grand military base during the night on September 22nd.
The small aircraft seen above the military base were not “drones flown by military personnel,” according to the departmental military delegation in France.newspaper L’Union.
French authorities did not reveal the specific types of drones employed but mentioned that they were not considered “small drones,” according to the news source.
The location led to enhanced security protocols at the warehouse on the base that contains France’s 501 tank regiment, which has trained Ukrainian troops, according to local media.
The newspaper reported that the base submitted a complaint to France’s gendarmerie, which is conducting an investigation to determine the origin of these drones.
Germany
On September 26, the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, which shares a border with Denmark, detected multiple drones.
“State police are actively enhancing their drone defense strategies, working together with other northern German states,” stated Sabine Sütterlin-Waack, the state’s interior minister.
A recent reportThe German national air navigation service (DFS) reported that it has recorded 144 drone flights this year, including 35 near Frankfurt Airport.
Approximately 90 percent of the flights documented were near airports and were primarily identified by pilots or air traffic controllers, DFS mentioned to Euronews earlier this month.
It is uncertain, as stated in the report, how many of these drones were utilized for intelligence gathering.
