Air Force officer to decide when to alert public to air threats

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda says the procedure for warning residents about possible air threats will change, with an Air Force operational duty officer monitoring radar empowered to decide when to send an alert. LRT reported the comments after a State Defence Council meeting on Thursday.

Nausėda said a drone incident several weeks ago showed that a yellow air-threat alert did not reach all parts of Lithuania and was issued only after the drone had already travelled a considerable distance. Under revised procedures, a drone like that would trigger a yellow alert from near the Lithuanian-Polish border, he said.

He said two indicators would have been available during the incident: attacks on targets in northern Russia were under way, and radar showed an object approaching from Poland. Together, these were enough to indicate a real threat to airspace and warn the public, he said.

The president said the alert decision would be decentralised to avoid delays and approval procedures. Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said the revised algorithms would set clearer criteria for which alerts should be sent and when.

Nausėda said procedures for shooting down a drone without visual identification were more complex and involved decisions at NATO headquarters. He warned that acting without confirming an object’s identity could have irreversible consequences, including the risk of attacking a small aircraft unable to communicate with air traffic control.

Progress on an integrated air defence system was most evident in detection, Nausėda said, with radar and other equipment providing a clearer picture of Lithuanian airspace. Anti-drone systems are also being tested, and the president said Lithuania should focus on products made in Ukraine that have proved effective during the war.