Drone alert in Lithuania, NATO scrambled fighter jets – object turns out to be a flock of birds

An alert about a suspected drone over Lithuania has put NATO in motion, forcing authorities to temporarily close Vilnius airport and the Alliance to scramble at least one fighter jet.

However, what was initially identified on radar as a possible drone, upon aerial verification turned out to be a flock of birds, Reuters reported.

Lithuania's National Crisis Management Center announced that the air alert was canceled and the airport reopened after thirty-eight minutes.

"In initial radar readings, the tracks left by birds and drones may be similar," the Center explained.

A fighter jet was activated from Šiauliai, in northern Lithuania, to verify the object. The area is currently home to Italian air forces as part of NATO's Baltic air defense mission.

Although the alarm turned out to be false, the rapid response reflects the high level of readiness on NATO's eastern flank, at a time when drone incidents have heightened security concerns in the region.

Reuters reports that military drones have entered the airspace of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, fueling concerns that the fallout from the war in Ukraine could extend towards NATO's northern borders with Russia.

Despite the alarm in the Lithuanian capital, the Vilnius Marathon, which was taking place at the time, was not interrupted./TheGeopost