Germany will provide Belgium with counter-drone defence after weeks of unidentified drone activity at the country's airports and military bases.
Drone sighting reports at Belgium's Liege and Brussels Airport temporarily halted flights overnight and on Friday morning. These were reported at Liege Airport on Thursday night and again on Friday morning, the Skeyes air traffic control service said.
The airport was closed for about 30 minutes on Friday morning after the service received a report of a drone flying above the airport near the FedEx transport company's warehouses at 6.30am GMT. Flights were suspended at 6.57am.
"We have to take every report seriously", Kurt Verwilligen, a spokesperson for the service, said.
The sighting at Brussels Airport on Thursday night also caused the temporary closure of the airport, the air control service said. More unconfirmed drone sightings were reported near the Doel nuclear power plant and the Mol nuclear research centre, according to Belgian press.
The incident on Friday morning is the latest in a string of sightings that the Belgian government has described as a co-ordinated attack on its airspace.
Drones were spotted flying over Brussels and Liege airports on Tuesday, forcing many incoming planes to divert while grounding others that were due to depart. The mayor of Diest reported that four drones had been spotted by police and the army at the Schaffen military base on Tuesday.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and Chief of Defence Carsten Breuer said they would assist Belgium with Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-sUAS), following a request from Brussels.
An advanced unit of German Air Force has been deployed to Belgium to assess the situation and co-ordinate defence operations with the Belgian Armed Forces, and another main unit will follow soon, the ministry said in a statement.
Belgium asked for help after drone sightings near military bases but the German counter-drone experts are taking positions in Belgium and Copenhagen.
National alarm
The Belgian government called an emergency meeting of ministers and security chiefs on Thursday.
"The threat is serious," said defence minister Theo Francken after the meeting, who said the government would work with Nato partners to improve security of its airspace.
He pledged to complete its National Airspace Security Centre to give a "complete picture" of Belgium's airspace by January 1, after acknowledging earlier this week that the country had "some means, but not enough" to deter the treat.
Mr Pistorius said harassment campaigns could be linked to EU pressure on Belgium to mobilise Russian frozen assets worth hundreds of billions to funding reconstruction of Ukraine.
"This is a measure aimed at spreading insecurity, at fearmongering in Belgium: Don't you dare to touch the frozen assets. This cannot be interpreted any other way," Mr Pistorius told reporters at a press conference in Berlin.
The Belgian defence ministry declined to comment on his remarks, but said "that possibility had already been floated in Belgium".
There is no doubt the pace of disruption has picked up in recent weeks. Belgian authorities are also investigating drone sightings last weekend at Kleine-Brogel airbase, which is home to Belgium's F-16 jets and is also reported to store US nuclear weapons.
An airport in Sweden was forced to temporarily close on Thursday.
These sightings have caused major disruptions across Europe in recent months. Officials have blamed the incidents on “hybrid warfare” by Russia, which Moscow rejects.
It comes as the European Commission adopted stricter rules for Russian nationals seeking visas for the Schengen zone on Friday.
Brussels has also been in a dispute with the Commission about the Union's proposal to finance loans to Ukraine with frozen Russian assets. Belgium has not endorsed the plan because it has concerns about the funds being held by Belgian financial services company, Euroclear.
