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Chief of the Defense Staff Richard Knighton said in a television interview on Sunday that Britain would send anti-drone equipment and personnel to Belgium after a spate of sightings near airports and military bases in recent weeks.
Brussels, Belgium’s main international airport, and Liège, one of Europe’s largest cargo airports, have been forced to temporarily close over the past week due to drone attacks.
The incident was the latest in a series of unidentified drone flights near military bases where U.S. nuclear weapons are stored.
Mr Knighton said the UK had agreed to “send personnel and equipment to Belgium to assist” following a request from Belgian authorities.
“The origin of the drone is still unknown to us and the Belgians, but we will help them by providing our equipment and capabilities, which have already begun to be deployed to support Belgium,” Knighton said in an interview with the BBC.
London experts thwart drones in Belgium
Defense Secretary John Healy said Britain would send a team of Royal Air Force experts to NATO ally Belgium to counter unauthorized drone activity.
“As hybrid threats grow, our strength lies in our alliance and our collective determination to protect, deter, and protect our critical infrastructure and airspace.”
Drone incidents have forced airports across Europe to suspend operations in recent months, with Russian hybrid warfare operations said to be behind some of the incidents.
Belgium has not said who it believes is behind recent drone sightings.
Belgian Defense Minister Theo Franken said he believed some of the incidents were part of an “espionage operation” that could not be carried out by an amateur.
“Thank you to our friends in the UK for their quick support and solidarity. Deploying the UK counter-drone team to Belgium strengthens our collective security and shows our solidarity against the hybrid threat,” he wrote in Sunday’s X.
Belgium is home to NATO and the EU headquarters, as well as Europe’s largest financial clearing house and holds tens of billions of euros in frozen Russian assets.
Many EU countries want to provide loans to Ukraine using these assets as collateral, but Belgium has so far resisted.