PM says electronic warfare may have altered drone’s course

Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said specialists believe electronic warfare equipment may have altered the flight path of a drone that violated Lithuania’s airspace, LRT reported. The drone’s launch point, route and possible target remain unclear.

“There is no such clarity, only certain assumptions. There are electronic warfare measures whose purpose, in plain language, is to burn out microchips and affect the drone so that it flies somewhere other than where it was expected to,” Sinkevičius told reporters on Thursday.

According to the prime minister, an initial assessment suggests that the microchips controlling the drone’s direction and coordinates may have been affected. This would mean the drone’s route and heading were different from those originally programmed.

Sinkevičius said more precise details should become available later and that it could take more than a week to establish where the drone was launched, where it was headed and what its target may have been.

He also commented on President Gitanas Nausėda’s suggestion that Russia may have intentionally allowed a confused drone to fly into Lithuania. Nausėda has said the drone was probably Russian-made and launched to attack Ukraine, but was diverted after being affected by electronic warfare equipment.

“That does not mean it was a deliberate Russian action with such a predictable outcome,” Sinkevičius said.

The Second Department of Operational Services, known by its Lithuanian acronym AOTD, is conducting a more detailed investigation, he added.

A likely air alert was declared in Vilnius and Kaunas counties on Tuesday night after the drone was spotted. The alert was later lifted after authorities said the drone had been destroyed.

Italian allied fighter jets taking off from the air base in Šiauliai shot down the drone using missiles. Although initial information placed the interception in Alytus District near Navasiolkų village, the National Crisis Management Centre later said the drone was shot down near Pratkūnų village in Kaišiadorys District.

The drone entered Lithuanian airspace from Belarus. Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry presented Belarus with a strongly worded protest note on Wednesday over the violation of the country’s border and airspace.

Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas confirmed that the destroyed drone was carrying explosives. Nausėda said the object was a Russian Gerbera-type drone intended to attack Ukraine but diverted from its course. He also cited the possible deliberate redirection of drones towards the territory of the Baltic states or Poland to maintain public tension.