Netherlands Scrambles Two F-35s to Intercept Unknown Drone

This morning, two F-35 fighter jets were scrambled to intercept an unidentified object in Dutch airspace.

The alert was issued at 11:20 a.m. Kyiv time after the object appeared on radar.

The aircraft was not transmitting any signals and did not respond to air traffic controllers.

It was later found that the object was a drone. It left Dutch airspace and posed no threat.

The fighter jets were operating under the Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) procedure, coordinated by the Air Operations Control Centre in Nieuw Milligen.

The QRA mission is carried out alternately by the Netherlands and Belgium, protecting not only their own airspace but the entire Benelux region.

At the end of November Dutch military personnel opened fire on drones spotted over the Volkel Air Base in the east of the country, but the drones managed to get away.