Belgium’s defense minister says drone flights near an air base could be part of a spying operation
BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium’s defense minister expressed concern Monday about a series of unidentified incidents drone He said there were flights over the weekend near a military base where US nuclear weapons are stored and that they appeared to be part of an espionage operation.
Defense Minister Theo Francken confirmed that drones flew in two phases on Saturday and Sunday night into the area near Kleine Brogel air base in north-east Belgium.
The first phase involved Belgian security services using “small drones to test radio frequencies”, followed by “large drones aimed at destabilizing the area and the people”, Francken told public broadcaster RTBF.
“This looks like an espionage operation. I don’t know who is doing it. I have a few ideas, but I would be careful about speculating,” he said. last month a few drones detected It’s above another Belgian military base near the German border. The operators were not identified.
Russia is blamed for many issues airspace violationsEspecially in Estonia and Poland in recent months. But identifying the perpetrators of a series of mysterious drone flights in Denmark and Germany has become more difficult.
A drone was seen in Berlin late in the evening Brandenburg airport Flights were stopped for about two hours on Friday. It was not clear who was responsible.
Francken denied that the weekend drone flights in Belgium could have been a joke.
He said the security services’ “jammer didn’t work because they tested our radio frequency and changed the frequency. They have their own frequency. An amateur wouldn’t know how to do that.”
When asked why it is not possible to shoot down drones, Francken said: “We can shoot down drones when we are over a military base. We have to be very careful when they are nearby because they can fall on a house, a car, a person. This is completely different.”
This may also lead to legal difficulties. “It’s not entirely clear. We need to clarify the legal basis,” he said.
Francken complained that Belgium was “chasing the threat” posed by such drone flights. “We should have purchased air defense systems that could deal with UAVs 5-10 years ago,” he said.
