After an exercise on Saturday, Lithuania’s authorities decided to use drones to better detect and take down weather balloons used for smuggling, Defence Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas has said.
“Joint forces, including the State Border Guard Service (VSAT), the Riflemen’s Union, and the military police, conducted an exercise. The focus was on the detection and possible neutralisation [of weather balloons]. We tried out two different approaches,” Kasčiūnas told BNS.
“We can now say clearly that we see solutions that will help us both spot them more effectively and if needed, neutralise them,” he added.
According to the minister, drones equipped with first-person view (FPV) technology will be deployed in this effort.
“The first change will be that we’ll see them [balloons] better, and the other thing is that we’ll use tools that, if we see risk and need to neutralise them in the air, seem to be the best option without creating any additional risks. One of these tools is FPV drones,” Kasčiūnas said.
“I won’t go into details, but during the exercise, we saw that an FPV drone, given all the necessary data, can neutralise a balloon,” he added.
The defence minister stressed that dealing with weather balloons is the responsibility of different institutions.
“This is primarily a smuggling issue related to criminal intelligence and the networks of people involved in that,” he said.
Recently, several incidents have been recorded in Lithuania where weather balloons carrying contraband cigarettes landed at critical infrastructure sites.
Border guards say they could theoretically take down such balloons if they come closer to the ground, but they do not have the authority to do so. Balloons flying at higher altitudes are out of reach for them, as they lack the necessary equipment to monitor or shoot them down.
The military emphasises that shooting down such balloons during peacetime would be an extreme measure.
Some politicians say that these objects crossing into Lithuania expose gaps in the country’s air security, noting that the balloons could be used not only for smuggling but also for provocations.
In response to the risks posed by such objects, politicians are planning to amend laws to allow the State Border Guard Service and Public Security Service to take down balloons that illegally cross the border while carrying contraband.
Border guards say they have recorded around 250 incidents involving such balloons in the past months.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
