Lithuania asks NATO to allow shooting down unseen drones in its airspace

Lithuania is moving to ask NATO for a rule change that would let its fighter pilots fire on objects detected by radar even if they cannot be seen directly. Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius told LRT that consultations with the alliance could be started within a month and that the new algorithm would be reviewed promptly. One outlet NATO procedure requires visual confirmation before a pilot can engage, a limitation highlighted by a recent event when a drone crossed from Poland into Lithuanian airspace but pilots, hindered by cloud cover, could not verify its nature and therefore did not shoot it down.

Debris from an explosion was later found in the northern village of Juodžioniai, in the Pasvalys district. Lithuanian officials identified the aircraft as a Ukrainian drone loaded with explosives, and Ukraine issued an apology, noting the possibility that Russian interference redirected the drone. The proposed rule change aims to give NATO members greater flexibility in defending their airspace against similar incursions.