NATO to deploy air-defence frigate in Baltic amid drone incursions

NATO has announced plans to upgrade its mission in the Baltic Sea with an air-defence frigate and additional assets, responding to multiple drone incursions reported across the region in recent weeks.

The announcement on September 27 followed a statement from the Danish Armed Forces earlier in the day, which confirmed yet another unidentified drone detection in the country, according to a Caliber.Az reports, citing Reuters.

While Denmark has recorded several drone sightings in recent times, the latest incident occurred overnight near military installations.

Earlier incursions this week had targeted airports and critical infrastructure. Copenhagen Airport, the busiest in the Nordic region, was forced to close for several hours this week after large drones were spotted in its airspace. In the days that followed, five smaller Danish airports, both civilian and military, were also temporarily shut down.

In a statement sent to Reuters, NATO said it would "conduct even more enhanced vigilance with new multi-domain assets in the Baltic Sea region."

The alliance added that the new assets would include "intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platforms and at least one air-defence frigate."

A NATO spokesperson declined to specify which countries would contribute the additional assets.

These reinforcements are intended to bolster NATO's "Baltic Sentry" mission, which was launched in January in response to a series of incidents involving damage to power cables, telecom links, and gas pipelines on the Baltic Sea floor.