NATO scrambles fighter jets in Lithuania over suspected drone incursion

NATO fighter jets were scrambled in Lithuania due to concerns over a possible drone incursion into the country's airspace near Vilnius, according to the National Crisis Management Center. This incident occurred amid heightened security tensions in the region, with Lithuania's military conducting exercises across 12 municipalities in the southern half of the country from September 14 to 18. The exercises involved troops training to respond to various military threats, including the use of multiple types of drones.

Lithuania's eastern flank has faced growing security pressure from Russia's war against Ukraine, given its borders with Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast and Belarus. Recently, Vilnius International Airport was closed for 38 minutes on September 13 after radar detected an object initially feared to be a drone. An Italian air force fighter jet scrambled as part of NATO's Baltic Air Defense mission and identified the contact as a flock of birds.

The head of Lithuania's National Crisis Management Center, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, noted that a large concentration of birds moving in one direction can register on radar as a drone-like object. Meanwhile, Poland reported finding a suspected Russian drone on September 14, although details are limited.

Brief written by urgent.news from Arutz Sheva - Israel National News, ABC News AU, Euromaidan Press — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.