NATO scrambles jet over flock of birds

The mistaken drone sighting caused the closure of Vilnius airport, the Lithuanian authorities have said A NATO fighter jet took flight after a flock of birds was confused with drones, the Lithuanian authorities have reported. There have been a number of incidents of Ukrainian UAVs crossing the airspace of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia or crashing in those countries as Kiev has intensified its long-range attacks on energy infrastructure in Leningrad Region in northwestern Russia in recent months. On Sunday, a perceived drone sighting caused the closure of Vilnius International Airport, the country’s National Crisis Management Center said in a statement later that day. It was reopened within 40 minutes after a NATO jet, which had taken off from Siauliai airbase in the north of the country, found that the cause of the air alert was not a UAV, but a flock of birds, it said.

“On initial radar readings, marks left by birds and drones can be similar,” the statement read. WATCH Russian drone interceptor in action (MOD footage) The Siauliai airbase hosts Italian air force Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, which had been deployed to Lithuania as part of the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission. Flying a Eurofighter Typhoon jet for a single hour reportedly costs around $65,000. Last month, NATO said that its warplanes shot down a drone over Latvia, claiming that it entered the Baltic nation’s airspace “as a result of Russian electronic warfare activities. ” Russia has accused Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia of playing with fire by allowing their territory to be used for hostile activity. Russian officials have warned that if the Baltic nations knowingly help facilitate Ukrainian drone strikes, Moscow would consider them complicit in the attacks and would have the right to self-defense under…