The North Atlantic Alliance used some of its most advanced military equipment to shoot down a small number of Russian drones that crossed into Polish airspace from Ukraine. A NATO official said using fighter jets to down Russian drones is not sustainable.
The German outlet BILD reports that NATO used sidewinder missiles fired from F-35s to down two or three Russian drones that entered Polish airspace. On Wednesday, about two dozen Russian drones flew into Polish airspace. A European Union official claimed Moscow directed the drones at Poland as a deliberate provocation.
Russian ally Belarus asserted that the UAVs were disabled by electronic warfare and flew off course. The Russian Defense Ministry said the target was military infrastructure in Ukraine. The recovered drones have been non-explosive decoy UAVs.
NATO scrambled aircraft and air defenses from the Netherlands, Italy, Poland and Germany in response to the incursion. The F-35s fired Sidewinder missiles at the drones. Sidewinders could cost about $450,000 each. The NATO aircraft only managed to down two or three of the Russian UAVs.
A senior NATO officer told BILD, “In the long run, it makes no military sense to use the F-35 against drones.”
In response, Germany will expand its aerial patrols and will double the number of its fighter jets, from two to four, in Poland.
