Denmark and Norway reported sighting of unidentified drones over their military bases on Saturday, following a series of sightings that officials havepreviously linked to Russia. Two drones were observed over Denmark’s largest airbase Karup and other military facilities, forcing the country to temporarily close its airspace to commercial traffic.
"I can confirm that we had an incident around 8:15 pm that lasted for some hours. One to two drones were observed outside and over the airbase," duty officer Simon Skelsjaer told AFP. He said that the police could not comment on where the drones had come from because they had not shot them down, and added that the police were cooperating with the Danish military in their investigation. The exact location of the drones have not been revealed. It should be noted that Karup Airbase is home to all Danish Armed Forces helicopters, airspace surveillance operations, and sections of the Danish Defence Command.
Norway also reported possible drone sightings near its Orland military based early Saturday.
The suspicious drone activities on Saturday are the latest in a string of drone sightings above Nordic countries, some of which forced temporary suspension of the work of airports, including those in Oslo and Copenhagen. Denmark reported violation of its airspace by drones twice this week. On Thursday, the authorities described these incursions as a “hybrid attack” but stopped short of blaming Moscow for this. Danish Prime Minister described the drone breaches as the most serious violatoins of the country's border in recent years.
NATO has been on high alert due to drone activities in and around its airspace this month. In the past two weeks, NATO members Poland and Romania intercepted Russian drones over their airspace, while Estonia said three Russian fighter jets crossed its territory. The frequency and intensity of airspace incursions that are blamed on Russia, raise fears that the war in Ukraine might spill over to wider region. NATO has scrambled military aircraft to strengthen its eastern front.
