During the night of this Monday, NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission fighters shot down a drone that invaded Lithuania's airspace, representing the first time the alliance shot down a drone in this country. The aircraft entered from southern Lithuania through Belarus, with alerts being issued throughout the capital Vilnius. Thirty minutes after being spotted, the drone was shot down near Kaunas, the country's second-largest city.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda confirmed the incident on social media X, thanking allied troops for their rapid response and stating that Lithuania, together with its NATO Allies, will defend its airspace. The incident raises concerns about intercepting autonomous systems on Europe's eastern flank, in a context of intensifying Russian aggression against Ukraine.
The countries surrounding the Baltic Sea plan to create a joint force for drone defense, in an attempt to respond more quickly to the growing threat of hybrid attacks and airspace incursions. The region has recorded several similar incidents, including the shooting down of a drone in Latvian airspace in August and another shootdown by NATO Rafale fighters in the same country in June.
The three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) have been NATO member states since 2004, becoming signatories of Article 5 of the Atlantic Alliance. During a four-month NATO mission at the Ämari base in Estonia, Portuguese Air Force F-16 fighters made several interceptions of Russian aircraft in the Baltic region.
