British Armed Forces Chief Richard Knighton announced that London will help Brussels counter drone incursions on airports and military bases in Belgium, after several sightings of unidentified drones in recent weeks.
The UK will send anti-drone equipment and personnel to Belgium following a series of sightings near airports and military bases in recent weeks, Chief of the Defence Staff Richard Knighton said during a television interview on Sunday.
Over the past week, Belgium's main international airport in Brussels and Liège, one of Europe's largest cargo airports, have been forced to close temporarily due to drone incursions.
The incidents were the latest in a series of unidentified drone flights near a military base where US nuclear weapons are stored.
Knighton said the UK had agreed to "deploy personnel and equipment to Belgium to help them," following a request from the Belgian authorities.
"We don't know and the Belgians don't know yet the source of those drones, but we will help them by providing our equipment and capabilities, which have already started to be deployed to help Belgium," Knighton said during an interview with the BBC.
Specialists from London to stop drones in Belgium
Defence Secretary John Healey said the UK is sending a team of Royal Air Force specialists to NATO ally Belgium to counter unauthorised drone activity.
"As hybrid threats grow, our strength lies in our alliances and our collective resolve to defend, deter and protect our critical infrastructure and airspace," he said.
Drone incidents have forced airports across Europe to suspend flights in recent months, with Russian hybrid warfare operations said to be behind some of the incidents.
Belgium has not specified who it believed was behind its recent drone sightings.
Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken said he believed some incidents were part of a "spying operation" that amateurs could not have carried out.
"Grateful to our British friends for their swift support and solidarity. Sending a British anti-drone team to Belgium strengthens our collective security and demonstrates our unity in countering hybrid threats," he wrote on X on Sunday.
Belgium is home to NATO and EU headquarters, as well as Europe's largest financial clearinghouse, which holds tens of billions of euros in frozen Russian assets.
Many EU countries want to use these assets as collateral to provide loans to Ukraine, but Belgium has so far resisted.