Foreign drone over Latvia shot down by NATO jets
by Ben Hooper · UPIAug. 14 (UPI) -- The Latvian military said a drone that entered the country's airspace overnight was shot down by NATO Baltic Air Policing jets.
The country's armed forces reported on X that the unmanned aerial vehicle entered the country's airspace near the Russian boarder overnight, triggering air raid sirens in the municipalities of Augšdaugava, Preiļi, Rēzekne and Balvi about 4 a.m. local time.
NATO scrambled Italian Eurofighters based in Lithuania and Turkish F-16s based in Estonia, and the drone was successfully downed near the village of Rugāji.
Sandra Kapteine, head of the Rugāji village administration, told the Latvian Information Agency that the drone was shot down in a wooded area and there were no injuries resulting from the incident, Politico reported.
The Latvian National Armed Forces in a news release said the foreign drone entered Latvian airspace "as a result of Russian electromagnetic warfare."
The release cautioned that similar incidents could happen in the near future.
"While the Russian aggression in Ukraine is ongoing, the recurrence of such cases when a foreign unmanned aircraft enters or approaches Latvian airspace is possible," officials wrote.
Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs wrote on X that the incident serves as "a confirmation that Latvian airspace is protected."
"At the same time, such incidents remind us that we must continue to strengthen the surveillance and anti-drone capabilities of Latvia's eastern border in order to be able to detect, identify and neutralize any potential threat as quickly as possible," Kulbergs wrote.
Then incident led Finland to temporarily restrict airspace early Friday, but the Finnish Defense Forces said no drones entered the country's airspace and the restrictions were lifted shortly after 7 a.m.
A drone previously entered Latvian airspace in June, was similarly shot down by NATO allies. The Latvian National Armed Forces said that incident was also "a result of Russian electromagnetic warfare."
Historic August moments through the years
Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his famed "I Have a Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on August 28, 1963. The speech galvanized the nation's civil rights movements and led to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1968 Fair Housing Act. File photo by UPI | License Photo