In Lithuania, a flock of birds caused an airport to be closed and a NATO fighter jet to be scrambled
On September 13, the airport in Vilnius was temporarily closed due to a suspicious object in the air. Because of the potential threat posed by a drone, a NATO fighter jet was dispatched to investigate, but it later turned out that there was no danger.
An alert was issued after radars detected the object near the Lithuanian capital. As a result, operations at Vilnius Airport were temporarily suspended.
To assess the situation, an Italian fighter jet participating in the NATO mission to patrol the Baltic airspace was scrambled from the air base in Šiauliai.
The pilot visually identified the object and determined that it was a flock of birds. The Lithuanian National Crisis Management Center explained that radar signals from birds can resemble those produced by drones.
The airport resumed operations just 38 minutes after it was closed. The incident also did not affect the Vilnius Marathon.
Source: Reuters
Lithuania closed the airspace around the capital, Vilnius, following a report of a possible drone sighting. The Lithuanian National Crisis Management Center reported the possible presence of a drone in the country’s airspace.
