Lithuania Plans to Boost Air Defence on Border After Russian Drone Incursions

Lithuania wants to bring in extra air defence forces to protect its airspace after two incidents with drones flying into the country from Belarus.

The Gaze writes about it, referring to LRT.

In particular, Defence Minister Dovile Šakalienė promised to take additional measures to ensure more effective border surveillance, cooperating with the Ministry of the Interior.

According to her, additional army forces will be involved for this purpose.

In turn, Commander-in-Chief of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Raimundas Vaikšnoras said that additional air defence assets will be deployed closer to the border with Belarus.

‘Today, there is a plan to deploy additional air defence forces closer to the border because we see certain trends. We know approximately the directions, we know where these corridors may pass, this is already the second case – it is in this area that we will strengthen our forces,’ he said.

Vaikšnoras noted that coordination with the State Border Guard Service will also be intensified, because ‘without their eyes in the sky and on the ground, without what they see and hear, it is difficult for us to identify anything.’

In addition, there are plans to speed up purchases related to drone detection, such as short-range radars, which were scheduled to be purchased at a later date, he added.

Vaikšnoras stressed that the Sky Fortress acoustic drone detection system should be implemented at the border as soon as possible.

‘We are going to implement it throughout the border area. This will make it possible to determine in advance what flying objects are moving, distinguishing between paragliders, balloons and small aircraft. This will simplify and speed up the decision-making process,’ said the commander-in-chief.

At around 5 a.m. on Monday, the Lithuanian police became aware of the presence of a drone over the country, which had probably flown in from Belarus. The device was last seen near Vilnius. Minister Šakaliene suggested that the drone could have flown into Lithuanian territory as a result of Ukrainian electronic warfare measures.

A similar incident occurred on 10 July, when a Gerbera drone flew into Lithuania via Belarus. Lithuania subsequently sent a note of protest to Belarus.

As The Gaze reported earlier, the Lithuanian Seimas has extended national sanctions against Russian and Belarusian citizens for another year.