Overview
- Defence Secretary John Healey ordered an immediate deployment of specialist RAF personnel and equipment, with a ground-based unit trained to detect, track and defeat drones using non‑kinetic tools such as jamming.
- Belgium requested allied assistance, and France and Germany have also sent or pledged anti‑drone teams in a coordinated response.
- Flights at Brussels and Liège were temporarily suspended in recent days after drone sightings, affecting about 3,000 Brussels Airlines passengers and triggering considerable costs from cancellations and diversions.
- Unidentified drones have also been reported over sensitive sites including military bases such as Kleine Brogel, with local reports noting incursions near critical infrastructure like the port of Antwerp.
- Attribution remains unproven as investigations continue; Western officials say Russian involvement is plausible and link the pattern to hybrid tactics and frozen‑asset disputes, while the Kremlin denies responsibility, and Belgium accelerates national air‑security plans, including a center due by early 2026.