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<\/p>\nOrigin of unmanned craft not immediately known<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTwo Italian Eurofighter jets were scrambled in response to a drone over Latvian airspace on Friday, NATO officials said. (Photo: AFP)\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
RIGA – NATO said on Friday that its fighter jets shot down a drone that entered Latvian airspace, the latest incursion along the military alliance\u2019s eastern flank bordering Russia.<\/p>\n
The military alliance has launched an investigation, a NATO spokesperson said, as concerns grow in Europe over unauthorised drone activity as Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine grinds on.<\/p>\n
This was the second time that such a drone had been shot down in Latvian airspace, the defence ministry confirmed to AFP.<\/p>\n
The first such incursion took place in June, when a foreign drone was also shot down by NATO fighter jets.<\/p>\n
Both Russia and Ukraine are relying on heavy use of drones to launch attacks in the four-year conflict.<\/p>\n
It was not immediately clear where the drone shot down over Latvia had come from.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can confirm that two Italian Eurofighter jets were scrambled earlier today in response to a drone over Latvian airspace. One of the Eurofighters shot down the drone,\u201d a NATO spokesperson told AFP, adding that \u201ctwo Turkish F-16 fighter jets were also scrambled\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll aircraft were operating under NATO command,\u201d the spokesperson added, adding that \u201can investigation is ongoing\u201d into the matter.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Friday, Latvia\u2019s defence ministry wrote on X that NATO \u201cfighter jets have successfully shot down a foreign unmanned aerial vehicle that had entered Latvia as a result of Russian electromagnetic warfare\u201d.<\/p>\n
Latvian foreign minister Baiba Braze wrote on X thanked Italy for \u201cmaintaining (the) integrity of NATO airspace\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is\u2026 a tangible result of NATO Summit decisions in Ankara to upscale the Baltic Air Policing mission to air defence,\u201d Lithuanian foreign minister Kestutis Budrys wrote on X, underlining that the Italian fighter jets were deployed in Siauliai, in northern Lithuania.<\/p>\n
The EU and NATO member state of about 1.9 million inhabitants shares a border with Russia to the east.<\/p>\n
It and other countries along NATO\u2019s eastern flank including Romania and Poland have suffered repeated incursions into their airspace.<\/p>\n
At a meeting on Wednesday, NATO allies reiterated that Russia bears full responsibility for the airspace violations, which it said are dangerous and unacceptable, and demonstrate Russia\u2019s increasing tolerance for risk.<\/p>\n
Finland also imposed temporary aviation and maritime restrictions in the eastern Gulf of Finland on Friday, its defence forces said on X.<\/p>\n
It described the move as a precautionary measure aimed at ensuring the safety of bystanders and the operational capabilities of authorities to counter potential drones.<\/p>\n
On Monday, French fighter jets deployed to NATO\u2019s Baltic Air Policing mission also shot down a drone in Latvia, marking the first time the alliance\u2019s rapid-reaction force has downed a stray drone over the country.<\/p>\n
German authorities last week found an explosives-laden drone at Leipzig airport, while operations at Hanover airport were disrupted after a drone entered restricted airspace, officials told AFP on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Origin of unmanned craft not immediately known Two Italian Eurofighter jets were scrambled in response to a drone…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[621,423,201,865,69,6593,7,6576],"class_list":["post-10777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-baltic-air-policing","tag-drone-incursion","tag-european-security","tag-fighter-jets","tag-latvia","tag-military-airspace","tag-nato","tag-russia-ukraine-conflict"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}