Vaikšnoras defends tested system after airspace warning questions
Monday 14th September 2026 on 16:15 in
Lithuania
Lithuanian Armed Forces Commander Raimundas Vaikšnoras says the military is operating under a pre-agreed, tested and approved warning system, LRT reported on Monday.
“The Lithuanian Armed Forces operate according to a pre-agreed, tested and approved indicator system based on the capabilities available,” Vaikšnoras said on Facebook.
He said every incident was different, requiring the military to use its surveillance equipment according to its capabilities and the specific circumstances. The armed forces monitor Lithuania’s airspace and maritime economic zone around the clock, 365 days a year, he added.
Vaikšnoras was responding to Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas, who said he was not satisfied with the explanations provided by military representatives about why the public was not warned of a possible air threat detected by radar on Sunday night.
Kaunas said the explanations did not answer all the questions and announced the formation of an expert working group. The group includes the deputy minister responsible for it, representatives of the General Inspectorate and the Lithuanian Armed Forces, and is expected to provide an analysis and chronology of events by Tuesday evening, including why particular decisions were made.
According to BNS, military air force radars detected an object crossing Lithuanian territory near Varėna at 4.05 a.m. on Sunday before it entered Russia’s Kaliningrad region. The object was likely approaching from Belarus. No air alert was issued over the incident.
Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the National Crisis Management Centre, said decision-makers had been informed in time, but authorities decided not to disturb the public because of the object’s flight path and the time of the incident.
Later on Sunday afternoon, residents in several regions, including Vilnius, received a warning about a possible air threat and were advised to identify a safe place. The warning was later cancelled after the radar detection was determined to have been a flock of birds.