COPENHAGEN: Denmark has told its NATO allies that drone incursions which disrupted two airports this week were linked to a state actor, Latvia’s foreign minister said on Thursday (Sep 25), as Copenhagen called the sorties hybrid attacks aimed at spreading fear.
Baiba Braze told Reuters that Denmark had informed allies of its assessment and urged the West to invest in anti-drone defences. “So we will wait for further assessments from our Danish colleagues, but it is very clear on the allies’ side that we all have to invest in counter-drone capability,” she said on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the incidents did not look like a coincidence. “It looks systematic. This is what I would define as a hybrid attack,” he said.
AIRPORTS CLOSED, BASES TARGETED
The incursions forced Aalborg airport, used for both commercial and military flights, to shut for three hours, while Billund airport, Denmark’s second-largest, was closed for one hour. Drones were also spotted near Esbjerg and Sonderborg airports, over Skrydstrup airbase where F-16s and F-35s are stationed, and above a military facility in Holstebro, police said.
Civil rescue company Esvagt said its vessels observed what appeared to be drones flying over the North Sea on Wednesday night. Police also received reports of drones near offshore oil fields.
“This shows at least that we do not have the capacity at present to prevent the intrusion of drones over our airports,” said Peter Viggo Jakobsen, an associate professor at the Royal Danish Defence College.
Police said they had stepped up their presence at airports and other critical infrastructure.
