Unmanned incursions test NATO’s eastern flank, closing European airports

• Recent drone and balloon sightings caused temporary airport closures in the Netherlands and Lithuania.
• European officials are increasingly concerned about airspace violations as a form of hybrid warfare.
• Lithuania attributes balloon incursions to Belarusian smugglers but calls the activity a state-sponsored “hybrid attack.”
• NATO’s eastern flank faces a pattern of airspace breaches, including a Russian attack drone crash in Latvia.
• The EU is responding with new defense proposals, including a “drone wall” to protect its borders.

European airspace is under a new form of siege, not from fighter jets but from unmanned and seemingly low-tech aerial objects. In a series of disruptive incidents, airports in Lithuania and the Netherlands were forced to temporarily halt all operations in late November 2025 after sightings of balloons and drones, marking the latest in a months-long pattern of incursions that is stretching NATO’s vigilance and testing its eastern borders. These events, ranging from contraband-carrying balloons to mysterious drones near military bases, have escalated regional tensions, forced a re-evaluation of continental defense and raised urgent questions about the vulnerability of Europe’s critical infrastructure in this era of hybrid threats.

Airports grind to a halt

The immediate disruptions were stark. On November 24, Lithuania’s Vilnius Airport twice closed its airspace overnight due to balloon sightings, diverting flights and marking the capital’s ninth such shutdown since early October. Hours earlier, on the evening of November 22, both civilian and military air traffic at the Netherlands’ Eindhoven Airport was suspended after reports of “multiple drones.” Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans confirmed that responsive measures were taken but withheld details for security reasons, stating simply, “Disruption of air traffic with drones is unacceptable.” These incidents are not isolated. Recent months have seen similar flight groundings in Sweden, Belgium and Denmark, creating a continent-wide pattern of aerial nuisance and menace.

The “hybrid attack” from Belarus

While the Dutch drone sightings remain unexplained, Lithuanian officials have a consistent explanation for their repeated woes: state-tolerated smuggling from neighboring Belarus. Lithuania asserts that meteorological balloons, used by Belarusian criminal groups to transport illicit cigarettes across the border, are the culprit. However, the government frames this not as mere crime, but as a deliberate “hybrid attack” orchestrated by Minsk. In October, Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene closed the border with Belarus in response, declaring, “no hybrid attack will be tolerated here.” Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov dismissed the closure as a provocation, shifting blame to “organized gangs of Lithuanians.” This exchange highlights how even low-tech incursions are now a potent tool for geopolitical friction, exploiting NATO’s obligation to treat all unauthorized air traffic as a potential threat.

A vulnerable eastern flank

The context for these incidents transforms them from nuisances into significant security concerns. Lithuania, a Baltic NATO member, shares a border with Belarus, a close Russian ally that served as a staging ground for the invasion of Ukraine. This geographic reality amplifies every airspace violation.

• In September 2024, a Russian Shahed attack drone crashed in Latvia.
• Poland has intercepted multiple drones breaching its airspace.
• Russian military jets have violated Estonian airspace.

This pattern underscores a region on edge, where Russia’s war in Ukraine increasingly spills beyond its borders. The historical precedent is sobering: in 2022, a stray missile from a Ukrainian air defense intercept killed two people in Poland, briefly rattling NATO-Russia relations and demonstrating how quickly accidental incursions can escalate. The current drone and balloon incidents, whether acts of provocation, operational mishaps, or criminal enterprise, probe NATO’s defenses and reveal systemic vulnerabilities along the alliance’s most exposed frontier.

A continental defense response

Confronted with this persistent threat, European institutions are moving to harden their defenses. The European Commission has unveiled ambitious proposals for flagship defense projects aimed at being operational by the end of the decade. Central to this new strategy is the European Drone Defense Initiative, often called the “drone wall.” Envisaged as a multilayered, technologically advanced system, it is designed to provide 360-degree detection, tracking and neutralization of hostile drones. Another key project, Eastern Flank Watch, seeks to integrate air defense, counter-drone systems, and maritime security in the Baltic and Black Seas. This concerted push represents a fundamental shift, acknowledging that Europe’s borders must be defended against a new generation of asymmetric threats that target civilian infrastructure and test military readiness.

A new era of aerial vigilance

The temporary closures of airports in Vilnius and Eindhoven are more than isolated travel disruptions; they are symptoms of a broader, more precarious security environment. The skies over Eastern Europe have become a contested domain where the lines between criminal smuggling, state-sponsored provocation, and military probing are deliberately blurred. As NATO allies grapple with these persistent incursions, the development of a coordinated “drone wall” and enhanced eastern flank defenses signals a recognition that the era of passive airspace sovereignty is over. The challenge now is to build a shield that is both resilient and agile enough to counter threats that are as inexpensive and numerous as they are disruptive and dangerous.

Sources for this article include:

TheEpochTimes.com

Aljazeera.com

Reuters.com