A swarm of drones approaching NATO territory would be treated as an attack against the alliance, NATO’s top commander in Europe said Thursday during a visit to Lithuania.
“If there were large drone swarms that were coming at us […] there’s no doubt in my mind if we experience such an attack […] that is not accidental, that is not an incursion, that would be an attack against the alliance’s territory,” said Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR).
“In that case, you’re looking at the activation of plans and the flow of additional capabilities into allied command operations and under SACEUR that we would deploy forward to help manage that,” he told reporters after meeting with Lithuanian Defence Minister Dovilė Šakalienė in Vilnius.
Grynkewich declined to discuss details of NATO’s vulnerabilities or specific responses but stressed that an attack triggering Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty would bring a decisive shift. “A lot more things would start to happen and it would be a very different ball game, as we would say in America,” he said.
His remarks came a day after Poland reported repeated airspace violations by unmanned aircraft during a Russian aerial attack on Ukraine. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said drones crossed into Polish territory 19 times, and at least three were shot down after Warsaw and its allies scrambled fighter jets. No injuries were reported.
“No one needed to call me because of the authorities that SACEUR has and the further delegation of those authorities,” Grynkewich said. “Our alliance’s air crews did exactly what they were supposed to do, which was defend the alliance’s territory. […] By the time they get me on the phone, the fight will be over. But I trust the alliance’s forces to execute that mission every single day.”
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, drones and missiles have strayed into the airspace of several NATO members, including Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania.
Defence Minister Šakalienė said that Lithuania did not detect any airspace violations after drone incursions into Poland on Wednesday.
“We checked all the signals and no, no objects were detected,” the minister told reporters on Thursday.
Citing NATO sources, the German publication Bild reported on Wednesday that two unidentified aircraft flew into Lithuanian airspace that morning.
In response to this information, the Lithuanian Armed Forces reported that fighter jets performing NATO Air Policing mission took off on Wednesday to carry out their tasks in Lithuanian airspace but they did not detect any potential targets.
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