The early bird gets the worm – or is tackled by a NATO Jet.
Every other day it seems that there’s a drone scare in Europe, part of a relentless scaremongering campaign against the mean Russians.
Needless to say, it is often found that the military drones straying into Finland, Romania, Estonia and Lithuania are actually Ukrainian – and sometimes there aren’t any drones at all.
Yesterday (13), the fear of the Ukraine war spilling into NATO territory has led to an emergency phone alert issued and airport closed in Lithuania, with military fighter jets rushing to intercept a flock of feathery, harmless birds.
Lithuanians overreacting to ‘drones’ is hardly a new event.
Remember this from October 2025? In the Midst of Europe-Wide Drone Paranoia, Lithuania’s Vilnius Airport Was Closed for Hours. The Reason? Air Balloons Carrying Smuggled Cigarettes
Reuters reported:
“Lithuania said that a perceived drone sighting in its airspace earlier on Sunday that prompted authorities to close Vilnius airport and NATO to summon at least one fighter jet, turned out to be a flock of birds.
The air alert was lifted and the airport reopened within 38 minutes, after the NATO jet made a visual identification, Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre said.”
JUST IN: NATO scrambles a fighter jet over Lithuania after a suspected drone sighting, but authorities later determine it was a flock of birds.
— Polymarket (@Polymarket) September 13, 2026
It turns out that, to the eagle-eyed radar operators in the Baltic country, ‘marks left by birds and drones can be similar’.
“A jet had been summoned from Siauliai in northern Lithuania, the center said, where the Italian air force is currently based as part of the NATO Baltic Air Defense mission.”
Reuters: Lithuania Says Object Mistaken for a Drone Turned Out to Be a Flock of Birds
Lithuania reported that the suspected appearance of a drone in its airspace on Sunday morning, which led authorities to close Vilnius Airport and NATO to scramble at least one fighter jet,… https://t.co/OwDpjC6ILg pic.twitter.com/MANw3yZIN7
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) September 13, 2026
Birds of a feather flock together, and can trigger a military reaction.
Sky News reported:
“Following the suspected drone sighting, Lithuania on Sunday closed Vilnius International Airport. The alert was lifted and the airport reopened within 38 minutes, after the NATO jet made a visual identification.
[…] The site of the attack was 800m (less than a mile) from the Polish border, and the border crossing was temporarily closed during the attack, a Polish border guard spokeswoman told Reuters news agency.
[…] Earlier this week, a flight scheduled to carry Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from Moldova to Norway was delayed when authorities closed Moldova’s airspace because of a drone incursion, a government spokesperson said.”
Read more from May:
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