Mystery drone downed near US Army base close to Russia – NATO state
An unidentified drone was shot down earlier this month near a base housing US troops in southeastern Estonia, close to the Russian border, the Baltic nation’s military has claimed.
The incident occurred at Camp Reedo, which hosts the 5th Squadron of the US Army’s 7th Cavalry Regiment. The unit arrived in February to replace troops from the 30th Infantry Regiment.
“Allies detected drones flying in the immediate vicinity of the 2nd Infantry Brigade campus at 4:30 p.m. on October 17, one of which was brought down using an anti-drone rifle,” Estonian Defense Forces spokeswoman Liis Vaksmann told Postimees on Tuesday. She added that the downed UAV has not been recovered.
NATO dispatched additional fighter jets to patrol its eastern flank after Poland accused Russia of violating its airspace with more than a dozen drones on September 9. In a separate incident a week later, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that two Belarusian nationals were detained for flying a UAV over government buildings in Warsaw. Moscow denied involvement in both cases.
On September 19, Estonia claimed that three Russian MiG-31 jets had entered its airspace and remained there for more than ten minutes. The Russian Defense Ministry stated that the flight had been “carried out in strict accordance with international law and did not violate the borders of any country.”
