European security policy

New system to combat drones on NATO's eastern flank

A new system to combat hostile drones has been put into use in Poland and Romania, writes AP. It is the American Merops system, which is no bigger than it can fit in a small truck.

Denmark will also start using the system.

- It helps us find and knock out drones at low cost. It is much cheaper than letting F-35 planes shoot them down with missiles, says NATO Colonel Mark McLellan.

The drone alarm in Europe
Source: Russia is singled out after Belgian drone alarm

Today, Belgium's national security council is meeting to discuss the drone alarm that closed the country's airspace earlier this week, writes The Guardian. On the way to the meeting, Interior Minister Bernard Quintin said that he wants to hear how the country's security services view the matter.

– I know that the Ministry of Defense will present a number of proposals to guarantee our security, Quintin said.

Belgium has not officially named anyone guilty. However, at a preparatory meeting, the security service reportedly said that everything indicates that “a state actor, probably Russia” is behind it, a source told the Belga news agency.

Tensions between Russia and Belgium have grown in recent weeks. Last week, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken an “imbecile”.

This after Francken said that he was not worried about a Russian nuclear attack on Brussels because NATO would then “wipe out” Moscow. 

Belgium bans drones in “sensitive areas”

Belgium will ban unauthorized drone flights in “sensitive areas”. This was announced by Communications Minister Luc Crucke after today’s emergency meeting of the National Security Council, writes TT with reference to Le Soir.

The meeting was held after several drone alerts at airports and military bases led to the country's airspace being closed on Monday.  

Belgium investigates drones: "The hybrid threat is real"

Belgian authorities are working to investigate what really happened when widespread drone alerts led to the country's airspace being closed on Tuesday evening, AFP reports.

Interior Minister Bernard Quintin says the focus is on finding out how many drones there were and who could be behind it.

No actor has yet been identified, but Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken says, according to Het Nieuwsblad, that the drone operations appear to have been well coordinated and that "amateurs" are behind them.

- The reports of incidents over both civilian and military facilities show once again that the hybrid threat is real and serious, he says.

Air traffic resumed on Wednesday with some disruptions, but the forecast is that everything will return to normal during the day.