Overview
- At 10:20 on Sunday a Quick Reaction Alert sent two armed F-35s from Volkel to investigate an unknown radar track in Dutch airspace.
- The Ministry of Defence later confirmed the object was a drone that left the area and posed no direct threat, and civil flights were unaffected.
- The drone flew at an altitude that requires identification and radio contact, which did not occur and triggered the response.
- Air combat control in Nieuw-Milligen directed the mission in concert with Belgium’s Control and Reporting Centre in Bevekom and in contact with NATO’s CAOC in Uedem.
- Volkel is leading 24/7 Benelux air policing through 15 January before the duty shifts to Leeuwarden, and such QRA scrambles occur only a few times per year.