Lithuania’s military says it has no affordable way to shoot down weather balloons carrying smuggled cigarettes, as the devices continue to disrupt civil aviation and strain national air defences.
Chief of Defence General Raimundas Vaikšnoras told the radio Žinių Radijas on Thursday that while the military is testing solutions from domestic and international manufacturers, current measures are either ineffective or prohibitively expensive.
“The Belarusian regime, while supporting smugglers, is taking advantage of the fact that there is currently no clear antidote to smuggling balloons,” Vaikšnoras said.
He added that prototypes, including some from Ukraine, have been tested under real conditions but so far have proven largely ineffective.
“We are looking for various ways. Manufacturers, both our national defence companies and international ones, are implementing and giving us all kinds of proposals. We have tested certain Ukrainian prototypes, but they are not very effective,” he said.
Vaikšnoras emphasised the high cost and potential risk of using conventional weapons designed for fighter jets or drones to destroy the balloons, warning it could endanger civilians and deplete Lithuania’s air defence resources.
“There are measures available, but they are very expensive. The question is whether we should start destroying those potential targets with weapons designed to destroy fighter jets or drones, which will actually pose a significant threat to Lithuanian citizens and the state itself,” he said.
The general invited manufacturers to continue submitting solutions, which could be tested “tonight or tomorrow night”, but noted that no significant solutions currently exist.
The balloons have forced repeated airport shutdowns, including three closures at Vilnius Airport on Wednesday and Thursday nights. Vilnius has suspended operations a dozen times in recent months, while Kaunas Airport has shut down once.
Lithuanian politicians describe the balloon smuggling as a hybrid attack orchestrated by the Belarusian government.
The Economy Ministry recently launched a competition to find technological solutions to neutralise the balloons. On Monday, the ministry announced that IT Logika, Teltonika, and Dangaus Šviesa had submitted the most advanced proposals.
Each company will receive a €100,000 prize in the first stage, with prototypes expected to be ready for testing by February 2026.
The solutions will need to detect and neutralise incoming balloons effectively, a capability that Lithuania’s current air defences cannot reliably provide.
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