NATO Fighter Jet Shoots Down Drone Over Latvia

A NATO fighter jet assigned to the Baltic Air Policing mission shot down a drone over Latvia.

Latvia’s National Armed Forces reported the incident.

The drone was intercepted over the Balvi Municipality. According to the Latvian military, the drone entered Latvian airspace after being affected by Russian electronic warfare (EW) systems.

After 4:00 a.m., the Latvian military reported an ‘airspace threat’ in four municipalities bordering Belarus and Russia. About half an hour later, they announced that the drone had been shot down.

Iveta Bērziņa, a spokesperson for the Joint Headquarters of the Latvian Armed Forces, said that the drone’s crash site had been identified, but its exact location has not been disclosed.

According to her, the crash site is currently being examined. The drone was shot down at a high altitude, so its debris may have been scattered over a considerable distance.

The incident occurred amid a massive drone attack on Russian targets in the Leningrad region.

This is not the first time drones have entered the Baltic states during attacks on targets in Russia. For example, in May, a drone that entered from the Russian side damaged storage tanks at an oil depot in the city of Rēzekne, about 40 kilometers from the border.

In March, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that Russia was deliberately diverting Ukrainian drones toward the Baltic states using its electronic warfare (EW) systems.

According to him, such incidents are subsequently used as part of information warfare provocations.

The Latvian military is considering purchasing A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft, manufactured by Brazilian company Embraer, to counter drones.

The Latvian government has allocated more than €1 billion to strengthen the country’s air defense, and aircraft of this type could become one component of the system.