Lithuania to test drone detection system after incidents with Ukrainian drones

Lithuania will test a drone detection system on May 25-26, following incidents with Ukrainian drones.

The local media outlet LRT writes about this.

Various types of drones, including the Shaheds, will be launched into the sky for testing. The tests will take place in the Kaunas district at an altitude of 250–1000 meters at 4 locations.

After the incidents with Ukrainian drones, experts will check how effectively the system is able to detect aerial targets at low altitude.

Drone crashes in the Baltics

In recent months, drones have increasingly entered the airspace of Northern European countries. For example, on the night of May 7, two drones from Russia entered Latvian airspace. One of the downed drones hit empty tanks at an oil depot in the city of Rezekne.

Latvia subsequently launched an investigation, and Latvian Defense Minister Andris Spruds resigned. He explained that he made the decision to protect the Latvian army from being “drawn into a political campaign”. The country’s Prime Minister Evika Silinė also resigned.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha later stated that the drones that flew into Latvia were Ukrainian. They deviated from their course due to Russian electronic warfare (EW) equipment.

On May 13, President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that Ukraine was sending its experts to Latvia and Lithuania to help protect their airspace.

On May 18, Lithuanian residents discovered the remains of a drone with explosives in a field, which was defused on the spot. The countryʼs Defense Ministry believes that the drone was Ukrainian.

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