Next year in Lithuania they will launch mobile fire units, which are meant to protect strategic facilities from balloons that increasingly intrude into Lithuanian airspace from Belarus. Such steps are planned by the Public Safety Service (SGB).
“We are already developing this concept, and I think that next year we will have, perhaps not exactly the ones we need, but we will have these fire teams with the appropriate kinetic means,” – said the head of the SGB Viktoras Grabauskas. According to him, the SGB is currently refining the concept together with other agencies, drawing on the experience of similar teams’ work in Ukraine.
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Commenting on the situation with balloons, Grabauskas noted that SGB employees responsible for guarding strategic facilities have “some means to neutralize them,” but their effectiveness depends on the altitude of these balloons’ flight.
“If drones are directed specifically at our facility, then, of course, there is lower speed, there is lower altitude, so we certainly have certain kinetic means,”
– said the head of the SGB
According to the publication, in July this year Lithuania’s Ministry of the Interior and the Vilnius city municipality agreed on closer cooperation in developing mechanisms to respond to drones. In particular, the protection of the capital’s critically important infrastructure will be provided by the Ministry of the Interior and mobile fire teams created at local government bodies.
In the night of October 27, Vilnius International Airport temporarily closed due to balloons flying from Belarus. Also in the night of October 25–26, air traffic at this airport was suspended. About 3,500 passengers and 25 flights were affected: 4 flights were canceled, 7 were redirected.
Overall this week, air traffic due to balloons was disrupted four times. On October 27, Lithuania’s Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene convened a meeting of the National Security Commission, during which they discussed the possibility of closing the border with Belarus for an indefinite period. Additionally, previous incidents of Lithuanian airspace violations included cases involving Russian aircraft in the Kaliningrad region and problems with air traffic at Vilnius Airport.