A Nato jet scrambled to Lithuania Airport over a possible drone sighting was stood down – after the potential threat was confirmed to be a flock of birds.
The sighting prompted the closure of Vilnius airport and prompted at least one Nato fighter jet to be summoned to respond.
The air alert was lifted and the airport reopened within 38 minutes, after the jet made a visual identification, Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre said.
“On initial radar readings, marks left by birds and drones can be similar,” it added in a statement.
The jet was summoned from Siauliai in northern Lithuania, where the Italian air force is currently based as part of the Nato Baltic Air Defence mission.
Military drones straying into the airspace of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are stoking concerns that the war in Ukraine is spilling over into Nato’s northern borders with Russia.
It comes after a Nato F-18 fighter jet operating on an air policing mission shot down a drone that unlawfully entered Romanian airspace, in August.
The aircraft was initially detected by radar as it crossed into Romanian territory from neighbouring Moldova, 24 km north of the south-eastern city of Galati. Although Romania’s defence ministry did not specify the drone’s origin, Nato representatives suggested a Russian link.
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