NATO forced to scramble fighter jets again after drone incursion for third day running

A NATO ally has been forced to scramble fighter jets for the third day in a row following a drone incursion into the defence alliance’s airspace. An unidentified drone entered Latvia on Thursday, the country’s armed forces confirmed, prompting a response from fighter jets assigned to Baltic air policing missions.

It remains unclear where the drone came from, but it marked the third consecutive day that Latvia declared a drone-related air alert. Residents in affected areas were told to remain indoors and follow the “two-walls rule”, which is intended to reduce exposure to blasts.

The armed forces said: “We have strengthened air defence capabilities on the eastern border by deploying additional units.”

Latvia, on NATO’s eastern flank, shares borders with Russia and Belarus, placing it close to the war in Ukraine.

The government resigned last week over its handling of previous Ukrainian drone incursions, with talks ongoing regarding a new cabinet.

Given the trajectory of the drone, “we decided that we need to take it down”, Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said.

He added: “Most probably, today we can say that it was [a] drone which was, let’s say, meant to hit some Russian targets.”

A similar incident occurred on Wednesday in Lithuania, forcing air traffic to be halted to its capital and politicians to take cover underground.