(Zero Hedge)—Europe continues to be on edge over ‘mystery’ drone sightings threatening airspace and commercial aviation traffic at key transit hubs, and now there are further plans for a greater military response.
The United Kingdom is sending military equipment and personnel to Belgium following fresh incidents in the country which have impacted travel at two major airports. One Politico headline from last week said “Drones plague Belgium”.
British Air Chief Marshal Richard Knighton said Sunday the military has agreed “deploy our people, our equipment to Belgium to help them” after a formal request for help from Belgian authorities.
“We don’t know – and the Belgians don’t yet know – the source of those drones, but we will help them by providing our kit and capability, which has already started to deploy to help Belgium,” said Knighton.
Details of the type of equipment or how many personnel will be deployed were not disclosed. BBC reports that troops of 2 Force Protection Wing and Royal Air Force are likely being sent.
And while Knighton admitted the source of the drones remains unknown, he did name Russia has having conducted pattern of “hybrid warfare” in recent years.
He said it is “plausible” that Moscow is behind it. And the country’s Defense Secretary John Healey said: “As hybrid threats grow, our strength lies in our alliances and our collective resolve to defend, deter and protect our critical infrastructure and airspace”.
According to more from BBC:
Alongside Nato allies, he added that the UK would help Belgium “by providing our kit and capability” which he said was already being deployed. On Friday the German defence ministry said it would support Belgium with anti-drone measures after a request from Brussels.
About 3,000 Brussels Airlines passengers were affected by the disruption, and the carrier said it faced “considerable costs” from cancelling or diverting dozens of flights.
UK Defense chief discussing response to unknown drone incursions in European airspace:
The drone incidents could be a false flag, blamed on Russia as a provocation. Or, it could be a ploy to garner public support for a civilian drone ban. They may represent a precursor to a larger event or “attack” designed to increase tensions between Russia and Europe.
European military bases are equipped with drone triangulation technology as part of their counter-Unmanned Aircraft System (C-UAS) defenses, but strangely these have apparently not been able to track or identify these mystery drones.
Belgium is not capable of defending its airspace and so turns to a non EU country that is also a failed state to help it out. That’s rich.