Overview

• Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys and Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė appealed directly to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte for immediate deployment of additional air defense assets and acceleration of the rotational model.
• The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry lodged a formal protest with Belarus’s chargé d’affaires after two Gerbera drones crossed from Belarus, including one that flew over Vilnius with two kilograms of explosives before crashing at the Gaižiūnai training ground.
• NATO affirmed that Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Grynkewich has the authority to decide on necessary measures and that member states are procuring and developing advanced detection and counter-drone systems.
• The incursions highlight a growing pattern of low-cost, low-altitude loitering munitions spilling over from Belarus into NATO territory, exposing critical gaps in eastern flank airspace monitoring.
• Lithuania’s appeal builds on the alliance’s planned rotational air defense framework and complements initiatives such as the proposed Baltic-to-Poland ‘drone wall’ to establish a layered, multi-sensor aerial shield.