Expert praises Lithuania’s drone shootdown operation

LRT reports that NATO air defence mission troops shot down a drone overnight in Kaišiadorys District, after which Lithuania delivered a note to Belarus and informed its allies. Military expert Egidijus Papečkys said the operation had been carried out perfectly.

However, experts warned that shooting down all the drones would be difficult for Lithuania and other countries if multiple unmanned aircraft entered the country at once.

Papečkys said the drone’s approximately 30-minute stay in Lithuanian airspace was a long time, adding that a faster decision would reduce the risk of it reaching other parts of the country.

“The time was needed to identify the target precisely and establish what it was and where it was flying. As we can see, a very good location was chosen near a strategic facility, but far enough away to allow it to be safely shot down. This time, the operation was truly carried out perfectly,” he told LRT television’s Laba diena, Lietuva programme.

Papečkys said no country was currently prepared to repel a dozen or several dozen drones simultaneously. He said it would be a major challenge to counter 16 drones, but stressed that a drone’s threat depended on whether it was lost, travelling somewhere without a specific target or carrying out a deliberate strike.

“If it is not flying towards an important strategic facility and we do not shoot down all of them, there will be no major disaster,” he said.

He added that even the most advanced technology could not make it possible to shoot down everything. In a group of drones, authorities would likely prioritise those posing the greatest danger to people and buildings.

Andrius Vilkauskas, a professor at Kaunas University of Technology, said each drone should be assessed individually because destroying one could cause more damage than allowing it to pass or fly into another area. He said the risks and possible collateral damage should be evaluated in every case.

Vilkauskas said the drone that entered Lithuania appeared to be a fixed-wing aircraft powered by an internal combustion engine rather than a jet. If it had been a Shahed drone, he said, it would have carried approximately 20 to 50 kilograms of explosives.

Regarding the Kruonis hydroelectric power plant, he said the facility was resistant to such an impact, although a direct hit on a specific location could cause significant damage.