Belgium’s defense minister says drone flights near an air base could be part of

Belgium’s defense minister says drone flights near an air base could be part of

BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium’s defense minister expressed concern on Monday about a collection of unidentified drone flights over the weekend near a army base the place U.S. nuclear weapons are saved, saying that they appear to be part of a spying operation.

Defense Minister Theo Francken confirmed that drones had flown into the space near the Kleine Brogel air base in northeast Belgium in two phases on Saturday and Sunday evening.

The first part concerned “small drones to test the radio frequencies” of Belgian safety companies, then later got here “big drones to destabilize the area and people,” Francken told public broadcaster RTBF.

“It resembles a spy operation. By whom, I don’t know. I have a few ideas but I’m going to be careful” about speculating, he said. Last month, a number of drones had been noticed above another Belgian army base near the German border. The operators weren’t recognized.

Russia has been blamed for a quantity of airspace violations, notably in Estonia and Poland, in current months. But the perpetrators of a collection of mysterious drone flights in Denmark and Germany have been tougher to pin down.

A late night drone sighting at Berlin’s Brandenburg airport on Friday suspended flights for practically two hours. It was not clear who was accountable.

Francken dominated out that the weekend drone flights in Belgium may need been a prank.

He said that the safety companies’ “jammer didn’t work because they tested our radio frequency, and they changed frequency. They have their own frequencies. An amateur doesn’t know how to do that.”

Asked why it wasn’t potential to shoot the drones down, Francken said: “When they’re over a military base we can shoot the drones down. When it’s nearby, we have to be very careful because they can fall on a house, a car, a person. That’s completely different.”

This can pose authorized challenges too. “It’s not entirely clear. We have to clarify the legal grounds,” he said.

Francken lamented that Belgium “is chasing after the threat” posed by such drone flights. “We should have bought air defense systems five or 10 years ago,” that can take care of drones, he said.

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