When the pilots closed in on the coordinates provided by ground radar, visual confirmation revealed the truth.
What was initially flagged as a high-stakes security alert ended on a surprising note when a NATO fighter jet was launched into the sky to intercept what radar systems identified as a suspicious drone. Instead of an enemy aircraft, the pilots found themselves face-to-face with a large flock of birds flying in formation, Sky News reported. According to the report, the jet was sent from Siauliai in northern Lithuania, where the Italian air force is based as part of the NATO Baltic Air Defence mission.
As per the report, the incident unfolded after defence operators picked up an unknown low-flying object moving through restricted airspace. Given recent geopolitical tensions and heightened airspace surveillance across Eastern Europe, defence protocols were followed.
Command centres authorised an immediate response, rushing military jets to track and verify the airborne target.
When the pilots closed in on the coordinates provided by ground radar, visual confirmation revealed the truth. There were no motors, propellers, or surveillance equipment, just dozens of birds migrating together.
“On initial radar readings, marks left by birds and drones can be similar,” the centre said in a statement.
Before it was clear on Sunday that the so-called suspicious objects were basically bird, Lithuania closed Vilnius International Airport. However, the alert was lifted, and the airport reopened within 38 minutes, Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre said.
Military drones straying into the airspace of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are stoking concerns that the war in Ukraine is spilling over into NATO’s northern borders with Russia.
But in the recent case, it is possible that the modern radar technology, designed to catch faint, slow-moving objects close to the ground, which are similar to small reconnaissance drones, got confused. However, a tight cluster of large birds flying together at a steady altitude can bounce back radar waves similar to a man-made craft.
