15 unidentified drones spotted over Belgian military base — Politico
On Thursday evening, 15 drones were spotted over the Elsenborn military base near the German border, prompting the Belgian Ministry of Defense to launch an investigation.
This was reported by Politico, according to Ukrinform.
On Friday, the Ministry stated that it is currently unclear where the drones came from or who was controlling them, but reports indicate they flew on into Germany after passing over the base.
The incident in Belgium comes amid a wave of drone-related disruptions across European airspace.
As Ukrinform reported, Germany’s Munich Airport — one of Europe’s largest hubs — was taken out of service overnight into Friday after unidentified drones were detected, forcing the cancellation of 17 flights and disrupting travel for nearly 3,000 passengers.
A further 15 flights scheduled to arrive in Munich overnight were diverted to Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Vienna, and Frankfurt.
Germany’s air navigation service provider, DFS, restricted flights at Munich Airport from 22:18 local time on Thursday and subsequently suspended operations after drones were detected in the airspace near the airport.
The Munich episode followed a week in which several Danish airports were closed three times after suspicious drone activity was reported near runways.
Danish authorities have not yet published the results of their investigation into who was responsible for the incursions, but Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen suggested that Russia could be accountable for the disruptions to Denmark’s airports.
EU leaders on Wednesday backed plans to strengthen the bloc’s defences against Russian drones, despite Moscow’s denials of involvement in the incidents.
Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary said that if unidentified drones are violating EU airspace and disrupting airport operations, they should be shot down.
Photo: Jens Büttner/dpa (illustrative)