Drones have intruded at four Danish airports overnight. Among them is the country's most important military airbase. Denmark is prepared to shoot down the drones if necessary.
Airspace over both Aalborg and Billund airports in Denmark was closed overnight and in the early hours of Thursday morning, writes TV2. The reason is that unauthorised drones have been spotted in the area. It is unclear whether it is one or several drones.
– The police's operation aims, if possible, to take down the drones. If that cannot be done, the priority is of course to find out where they are coming from, says National Police Commissioner Thorkild Fogde at a press conference tonight.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, Aalborg Airport reopened.
– The drones over Aalborg Airport have been confirmed by airport staff, the air traffic control tower and the police – and according to all three instances, it is a matter of ’fairly certain information’, says Thorkild Fogde.
During the night, the police in South Jutland also confirmed that drones had been observed at the civilian airports in Esbjerg and Sønderborg, as well as at Denmark most important military air base Skrydstrup. At Skrydstrup, near the German border, the Danish Air Force stations both F-16 and NATO's most advanced fighter jet, the F-35. Here too, they are prepared to shoot down drones.
”If it is safe to do so,” the police write.
Several flights diverted
Air traffic at the South Jutland airports was not affected, as there was no planned traffic there. However, at least five flights have had to be rerouted to other airports, according to TV2. These include two flights from Norwegian, two from SAS and one from KLM.
”We are currently focusing on safely redirecting air traffic and are cooperating with the police to manage the situation. We currently have no further information,” the Danish Defence Command writes on Facebook.
Jens Jespersen, from the Copenhagen police, says that the police are investigating whether these are commercial or private drones.
"We are not installing a device like the one we did the other day, and as in Aalborg tonight, if we believe it is about private actors," Jens said.
Drone alert on Monday
On Monday evening, air traffic in both Copenhagen and Oslo was disrupted by drones. At Kastrup, no planes were able to land or take off for several hours. Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called it ”the most serious attack on Danish infrastructure to date”.
The Danish police assess that a ”capable actor” is behind the airspace disruption on Monday, citing the number and size of the drones, as well as the fact that they circled the airport for several hours.
Source: Expressen.se
