More unidentified drones were seen over Denmark overnight into Saturday, just days after a major drone sighting prompted the closure of the country’s main airports on Monday in what officials slammed as a “hybrid attack”.
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The Danish defence ministry said that “drones have been observed at several of Danish defence facilities” overnight into Saturday.
The renewed drone sightings come after there were several drone sightings in the Nordic country earlier this week, with some of them temporarily shutting down Danish airports.
The Danish defence ministry said in a statement that drone activity was noticed at Skrydstrup Air Base, in southern Denmark, and the Jutland Dragoon Regiment base.
Local media outlets reported that one or more drones were also seen near or above the military Karup Air Base, which is the country’s biggest military base.
The Defence ministry refused to confirm the sighting at Karup and said later that “for reasons of operational security and the ongoing investigation, the Defence Command Denmark does not wish to elaborate further on drone sightings.”
Danish public broadcaster, DR, reported that in Karup, there were drones in the air both inside and outside the fence of the air base at around 8 pm local time, quoting Simon Skelkjær, the duty manager at the Central and West Jutland Police.
DR says the airspace was closed to civil air traffic for a period of time following the incident, adding that did not have much practical significance as there is currently no civil aviation in Karup.
The drones observed flying above Copenhagen airport on Monday grounded flights in the Danish capital for hours, according to authorities, who slammed the incident as “hybrid attacks”.
Danish Minister of Justice Peter Hummelgaard said on Thursday that the goal of the flyovers is to sow fear and division. He added that Copenhagen will seek additional ways to neutralise drones, including proposing legislation to allow infrastructure owners affected by the incursions to shoot them down.
In neighbouring Germany, several drones were reported in the early hours of Saturday in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, which borders Denmark.
“State police are currently significantly stepping up their drone defence measures, also in coordination with other northern German states,” said Sabine Sütterlin-Waack, the state's interior minister.
The repeated unexplained drone activity, including over five Danish airports earlier this week, including the largest and busiest, Copenhagen Airport, has raised concerns about security in northern Europe amid suspected growing Russian aggression.
For the upcoming European Union summit next week, the Danish defence ministry confirmed on X that the country's government had accepted an offer from Sweden to “lend Denmark a military anti-drone capability,” without giving further details.