Belgium’s national security council will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday after drone sightings at airports caused travel chaos and raised security concerns. Arrivals and departures were halted for several hours on Tuesday evening at Brussels Airport, the country’s busiest, leading to dozens of flight cancellations. The skies were also closed over Liège Airport, a key freight hub, causing further cancellations, delays and diversions.
In addition, the mayor of Diest reported that police and army officers had spotted four drones at the nearby Schaffen military airbase on Tuesday. These incidents follow earlier mystery drone sightings at several military bases over the weekend, including Kleine-Brogel, which hosts Belgium’s F-16 fighter jets and is reported to store US nuclear weapons.
Belgium’s defence minister, Theo Francken, told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday that the incidents appeared coordinated, involving large drones flying in formation. “It is in line with the hybrid techniques seen in other countries,” he said. A source told the Belga news agency that security services had “little doubt” a state actor was responsible, “very probably Russia”.
The drone sightings are part of a surge in incursions into European airspace since mid-September, with drones spotted in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Poland, Norway and Spain. Lithuania closed its two largest airports last month after helium balloons suspected of carrying contraband cigarettes drifted into its airspace, with the prime minister calling them “hybrid attacks”.
Tensions between Belgium and Russia have increased recently, partly due to Belgium blocking an EU plan to loan Ukraine €140bn based on Russian frozen assets held in Brussels. Last week, Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev called Francken an “imbecile” after the defence minister said Nato would “flatten Moscow” if Russia launched a nuclear attack on Brussels.
Belgium’s interior minister, Bernard Quintin, said the repeated drone incidents “directly affected the security of our country” and called for the national security council meeting. Brussels Airport warned passengers that disruptions remained possible, with a spokesperson confirming 95 flights had been cancelled and 400 to 500 people spent the night at the airport.
