Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas called for a review of the algorithm of NATO’s Baltic air policing mission after the recent downing of a Russian drone in Latvia.

He was quoted by the Lithuanian national broadcaster LRT.

According to the Minister, the Alliance’s aircraft “should not only patrol but, if necessary, if time permits, shorten the decision-making chain at the NATO level so that they can take off immediately and destroy the drones.”

Kasčiūnas believes that if a threat of a drone violating NATO airspace is detected, information about it should be quickly transmitted to the headquarters of the North Atlantic Alliance.

“NATO Headquarters assesses the situation, whether there is sufficient evidence that it is an enemy drone and not some other lost aircraft, and then a quick decision is made to deploy air police aircraft. This is a certain algorithm, and it needs to be accelerated,” the Lithuanian Minister said.

At the same time, answering a question about Lithuania’s response in the event of an enemy drone violating the country’s airspace, Kasčiūnas said that it should be a collective decision by NATO.

Shahed drone in Latvia

On September 7, the Latvian Ministry of Defense reported that a Russian military drone had crashed in the east of the country in the Rēzekne district.

The Latvian Armed Forces tracked the drone’s flight and determined its crash site.

On September 9, it was confirmed that the Russian UAV that took off from Belarus and crashed was a Shahed kamikaze drone.

Latvian defense officials stated that, based on available information, the drone’s entry into Latvia cannot be viewed as an open military escalation against the country, as Latvia was not its intended target.

On September 8, Militarnyi reported on the incident and suggested that the drone might be a Shahed drone.

On the night of September 6-7, a large group of drones flew into Belarus. One of them entered the Hrodna region and flew as far as Korelichi and Novogrudok, heading towards the border with Lithuania.