After unknown drones, Belgium decides to strengthen air security – details

In response to the incidents with unidentified drones, Belgium has decided to strengthen the National Aviation Security Center (NASC). This was announced by the minister of defense Theo Francken after a meeting of the Government Security Council, reports VRT media.

According to official, this is the most important measure adopted at the meeting; the tightening is scheduled to be implemented by January 1.

"All the security services together need to get a common view of the airspace," Franken said. This is the responsibility of NASC.

The minister also said that the issue of purchasing anti-drone weapons was discussed at the meeting. The official noted that he is now continuing to work on this possibility to present it to the government the next day.

"In the meantime, we must not allow enemy drones to enter our territory and over our military bases. The tasks and instructions are clear: if possible, we shoot them down," he summarized.

Also at the Security Council, the Belgian authorities decided that from now on, all drones and drone pilots must be registered – without this, the drone will automatically be considered hostile.

Previously, such registration was not mandatory; this change should facilitate the work of security services, as enemy drones can be shot down, the VRT journalist said.

However, he added, the question remains whether this will work: "People with bad intentions will still not register their drones. Then it will be difficult to detect them, let alone chase or shoot them down."

• In Belgium, on October 31, two nights in a row, over the Kleine-Brogel military airbase, the following were spotted unknown drones – The country's defense minister said that the UAVs were spying on F-16s, ammunition and "other strategically important things." This is not the first such incident in the country.
• On the evening of November 4, airports in Brussels and Liège suspended operations due to drones.
• The Belga news agency quoted a source as saying that Belgian intelligence services had "little doubt" that another state was behind the drone incidents in the country, most likely, Russia.