Lithuania scrambles jets and briefly halts flights after alert turns out to be a flock of birds
An alert over a possible drone in the Vilnius region on Sunday led to NATO jets scrambling and flights being suspended, but the radar signals turned out to be caused by a flock of birds. The alert lasted about 38 minutes.
On Sunday, authorities in Lithuania's Vilnius region issued a warning about a possible drone sighting in national airspace, sending SMS alerts to residents, scrambling NATO fighter jets and temporarily halting flights.
According to the Delfi news portal, as cited by "European Pravda," Lithuania's National Crisis Management Centre (NKVC) said that at 12:56 on September 13 it received information about a possible unidentified object in the country's airspace. The situation was assessed immediately, and by 12:59 a warning had been issued for the city of Vilnius as well as the Vilnius, Trakai and Elektrėnai districts, with residents advised to find a safe location.
Jets find a flock of birds
After fighter jets carrying out a NATO air-policing mission scrambled to investigate, it was determined that the signals appearing on radar screens had been caused by a flock of birds. The NKVC explained that in initial radar readings, signals from birds and drones can look similar, which is why an additional check was needed to determine the true nature of the object. The warning was lifted at 13:37, meaning the alert lasted around 38 minutes.
Fighter jets from NATO's air-defence mission — formerly known as the Baltic air-policing mission — have been patrolling over Vilnius since July. Airspace over Lithuania and the other Baltic states is currently guarded by Italian Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon jets based at Šiauliai air base.
Related developments in Poland
On the same day, a spokesman for Poland's Operational Command of the Armed Forces said that on the night of September 13, when Russia attacked regions of Ukraine, the threat to Poland had been real. A spokesman for Poland's border guard service said a drone had struck a truck near the Yahodyn-Dorohusk border crossing. A spokesman for Ukraine's State Border Guard Service said there had been no strikes directly on the Yahodyn crossing point itself, while Poland's defence minister confirmed no violation of Polish airspace had occurred. Ukraine's national railway operator reported that Russia struck the locomotive of a passenger train near the border with Poland.
