A French Rafale fighter jet shot down a drone that entered the airspace of Latvia, a NATO member country, coming from Russia, on Monday.
The French military aircraft downed the drone that entered the country’s airspace „as a result of Russian electromagnetic warfare,” the Latvian army announced, cited by Reuters.
The Ministry of Defense of Latvia previously announced in a press release that NATO fighter jets downed a drone in the Latgale region that entered the country's airspace from Russia.
The Latvian National Armed Forces (NBS) sent alerts to the mobile phones of citizens in eastern towns. The airspace alert was lifted by 10:30 local time, as reported by Euronews.
The incident took place just two weeks after the NBS issued a similar alert to the population after detecting at least one drone in Latvian airspace.
The NBS announced that they have deployed additional units to the eastern border of Latvia to strengthen aerial capabilities.
It is worth mentioning that in May, a Romanian Air Force F-16 aircraft, conducting Enhanced Air Policing missions in Baltic airspace, shot down a stray drone in Estonian airspace.
Moreover, on May 29, a Russian drone crashed into a building in Galaţi.
Drone intrusions into NATO airspace reached an unprecedented scale last September, prompting European leaders to decide on developing a "drone wall" along their borders to better detect, track, and intercept drones violating European airspace, as reported by Euronews.
In November, NATO military officials announced that a new American anti-drone system had been deployed on the alliance's eastern flank.
Following a violation of Polish airspace, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte announced the formation of the Eastern Sentry program, aiming to deter Russian incursions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that his country will send anti-drone air defense expert groups to Romania and the Baltic states to help them protect their territory from drone incursions.
Some European officials have described the incidents as a test of NATO's response by Moscow, raising questions about how prepared the alliance is against potential threats from Russia.
The Kremlin has rejected accusations that Russia is behind drone incursions in Europe.
T.D.