Mysterious drone flights in NATO airspace have caused alarm across Europe. Here’s what we know

Berlin – Berlin (AP) – The mysterious flights of drones above the airspace of the member countries of the European Union in recent weeks have alarmed the public and the elected officials.

The intrusions in NATO airspace, some of which blamed Russia, reached an unprecedented scale last month. Some European officials have described incidents such as Moscow tests who were testing NATO’s answer, which raised questions about the preparation of the Alliance against Russia.

On September 10, a swarm of Russian drones flew to Poland’s airspace, forcing NATO planes to rush to intercept them and shoot down certain devices. It was the first direct meeting between NATO and Moscow since Russia launched its total war against Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

A few days later, NATO jets escorted three Russian Air Space war planes in Estonia.

Since then, overflies have occurred near airports, military facilities and critical infrastructure, among other places, elsewhere on the continent and prompted European ministers to Defense to accept to develop a “drone wall” along their borders to better detect, follow and intercept drones violating Europe.

Russia has been blamed for some of them, but denies that everything was done on purpose or that it played a role. The European authorities have not published a lot of details on drone intrusions, some publicly recognizing overflights a few days later.

Other times, the authorities could not confirm an observation report. At one point, the Danish authorities were flooded with 500 observations for 24 hours – some of which have proven to be stars in the sky.

Countries rush to understand how to react in the moment, in particular by weighing the opportunity to allow the authorities to shoot drones.

Here is what we know about some of the recent drone observations:

German Munich Airport reopened on Saturday morning after the authorities closed it the previous night for the second time in less than 24 hours after two additional drone observations. The delays were to continue throughout Saturday and at least 6,500 passengers were affected by the night closure.

In Denmark, drones flew over Copenhagen airport on September 22, leading to a major air traffic traffic in and outside the largest Airport in Scandinavia.

The Danish Prime Minister puts Frederiksen said that Russian participation could not be excluded, calling it “the most serious attack on the Danish critical infrastructure to date”.

Meanwhile, a report of drone observation occurred the same evening at the Norwegian Oslo airport, forcing all traffic to a track. The authorities were investigating the question of whether there was a link between the two major airports.

The drones also flew over four small Danish airports between September 24 and September 25, including two which serve as military bases. Danish Defense Minister, Troels, Lund Poulsen, said that a “professional” player was probably behind “systematic flights”.

In the same time, several Danish media reported that one or more drones were seen near or above the Karup air base, which is the largest military base in Denmark.

The Ministry of Defense refused to confirm the observation in Karup or elsewhere, and said that “for operational security reasons and the current survey, Denmark of the Defense Command does not wish to develop more on drone observations.”

In Germany, the authorities are investigating the assertions that unidentified drones may have critical infrastructure in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein. Several drones were spotted on September 25 on a power plant in the capital of the state of Kiel, as well as near a university hospital and a shipyard in the port city, according to a report by Der Spiegel.

The regional interior minister Sabine Sütterlin-Wack, a committee of the State Parliament that flying objects of “different types and sizes” had been identified to a committee of the state. Chief Prosecutor Stephanie Groopp said that an investigation was underway.

Der Spiegel said two small drones had been seen in the premises of the TKMS Kiel factory, a supplier of maritime defense technologies.

Later, a “training of combined drones” was observed above the university hospital and a power plant, and other drone observations were reported on government buildings and the Heide oil refinery in the region, according to the report.

Other suspect drones were spotted at a military base in Sanitz, in the state of Pomerania de Mecklenburg-Western in the east, the weekly reported.