The detection of several unidentified drones has caused aerial chaos on Tuesday night in Belgium, where the airports of Brussels and Liège were forced to temporarily suspend their operations. New sightings were also reported near at least two military bases, an incident repeated in recent days that has triggered alarm among the country’s authorities.
First was the Brussels airport, Zaventem, where shortly before 8:00 p.m. landings and takeoffs were interrupted after at least one drone was detected on its terrain (the HLN media raises the figure to three devices). The planes that could not remain waiting in the air were initially diverted, among others, to Liège airport, but this also reported its closure shortly after after sighting another drone.
After just over an hour of closure, Brussels reopened its airspace, which however closed again shortly before 10:00 p.m., due to the sighting of a new drone. Liege followed suit shortly after. The security protocol decrees that, in this type of case, the airspace is temporarily closed. After half an hour, new observations are made and, if nothing suspicious is detected, circulation is resumed, reminds the Sudinfo chain. While some planes remained in the air, as shown on Flightradar, others were diverted to nearby airports in neighboring countries.
“All Belgian airspace is closed,” the spokesperson for the Liège airfield told the Rtbf channel shortly before the first alert at that airfield was deactivated again.
If it is confirmed that these are unidentified drones, it would join similar devices that have put the country’s authorities on maximum alert. Already at the weekend, the Minister of Defense, Theo Francken, confirmed that the presence of several of these devices flying over military air bases in the country, as well as other strategic points, was being investigated.
The most serious case in recent days has been the alleged target of the Kleine-Brogel military air base, in Limburg, in the northeast of the country, where Belgium stores American nuclear weapons and, starting in 2027, will also house the new F-35 fighter jets that it has purchased from the United States. In total, several drones were detected in its airspace and surroundings in various nighttime incidents from Friday until Sunday afternoon. This Tuesday, residents of the area reported having seen six drones again near the military base. Police officers sent to the area managed to confirm at least two of those devices, according to the newspaper The Newspaper.
Francken, who was currently on a Flemish television set, quickly left the network. According to the newspaper Le Soir, it revealed that, in addition to the new sighting in Kleine-Brogel, two drones had also been detected at the Florennes base, in the province of Namur.
After the second night of sightings in Kleine-Brogel, and although at the moment the origin of the devices has not been identified, Francken was already pointing out on Saturday an espionage operation.
“[Por] how exactly they operate, where they fly over, what they investigate and how long a flight of this type lasts: these are not accidents,” said the head of Defense, who hopes that by the end of the week a national plan of 50 million euros for a defense system against drones will be approved.
On Monday, the head of the Belgian Defense and armed forces, Frederik Vansina, announced that an order has been given to shoot down any unknown drone that flies over a military base as long as it does not put people or property at risk.
“The order has been given to shoot them down,” he said during a ceremony to receive a new minehunter in Zeebrugge, according to Belgian press. The only condition, he indicated, is that they do not cause “collateral damage.” Something complicated, he acknowledged, because they usually fly at night and are small devices.
The presence of suspicious drones has caused paralysis of several European airports in recent weeks and months. Before the Brussels case, the German Berlin-Brandenburg airport also had to suspend its operations on Friday night for almost two hours due to the presence of these devices. In September, suspicious drones also forced the temporary closure of Copenhagen, Oslo and Aalborg airports, while Munich airport had to suspend operations twice in 24 hours in October.
The Brussels airfield was already the victim of a cyber attack in September that also affected those in Berlin and London (Heathrow), causing major disruptions.
