NATO countries have the technical capabilities to shoot down drones, but the use of such means is not always advisable and depends on the security conditions in a particular situation. This was stated by the Ambassador of Lithuania to Sweden Linas Linkevicius on the sidelines of the international forum “Security Architecture” on June 2, the video was published by “Novini.LIVE”.
The diplomat commented on the Alliance’s response to incidents with drones violating the airspace of NATO member states, in particular the latest incident over Estonia, when an F-16 shot down a UAV. According to him, in situations where interception occurs over safe areas, the use of fighter jets is justified, but over densely populated areas this can create additional risks.
“Do we have the means to shoot down? Yes, we do. But I think it’s irrational. […] If you shoot over apartment buildings, it’s probably irrational,” Linkevicius noted.
He also pointed out the economic inefficiency of such an approach. The ambassador spoke about the cost imbalance, when an interceptor missile can cost up to $1 million, while the drone itself can cost from tens to several hundred thousand dollars.
