Fresh drones spotted over Denmark’s largest military base following airport incidents
Earlier this week drones were spotted at four airports in the Scandinavian country
Drones have been sighted at several Danish defence facilities overnight after a string of drone incursions caused air traffic chaos earlier this in the Scandinavian country.
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Unidentified drones were observed at Karup Air Base, Denmark's largest military base, according to several local media outlets, days after drone activity at four Danish airports disrupted flights.
The Danish defence ministry said drone activity was also noticed at Skrydstrup Air Base and the Jutland Dragoon Regiment.
However, it 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 8pm local time (6pm GMT), quoting Simon Skelkjaer, the duty manager at the Central and West Jutland Police.
DR said that for a period of time the airspace was closed to civil air traffic, but that did not have much practical significance as there is currently no civil aviation in Karup.
The repeated unexplained drone activity, including over four Danish airports overnight on Wednesday into Thursday and a similar incident at Copenhagen Airport, has raised concerns about security in northern Europe amid suspected growing Russian aggression.
However, the Russian embassy in Copenhagen has denied "absurd speculations" of its involvement in what it described as "staged provocations" to the BBC.
On Monday night, unidentified drones spotted over Copenhagen Airport grounded flights out of the Danish capital.
Jes Jespersen, a senior police officer in the Scandinavian country, said the drone pilot was a “capable actor”, and indicated it was a performance intended to “show off”.
Drone activity was also seen overnight from Wednesday into Thursday near Aalborg Airport and three smaller airfields in Esbjerg, Sonderborg and Skrydstrup.
Prime minister Mette Frederiksen said earlier this week it was "the most serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure to date."
The goal of the flyovers is to sow fear and division, Danish Minister of Justice Peter Hummelgaard said on Thursday, adding that the country will seek additional ways to neutralize drones, including proposing legislation to allow infrastructure owners to shoot them down.
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.
In Germany, several drones were reported in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, which borders Denmark, from Thursday into Friday night.
The state's interior minister, Sabine Sutterlin-Waack, said that "the state police are currently significantly stepping up their drone defence measures, also in coordination with other northern German states," German news agency dpa reported.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz said that in regard to frequent attacks on infrastructure and data networks, "we are not at war, but we are no longer living in peace either". He did not allude to a certain country as the actor behind those attacks.
Yesterday, Sir Keir Starmer met with Canadian prime minister Mark Carney and agreed that a "united" Nato and its members are prepared to defend the bloc's airspace.
A Downing Street spokesperson said the two together “expressed full solidarity” with their counterpart from Denmark Mette Frederiksen, “following recent incursions by unidentified drones into Danish airspace”.
