Danish army admits flaws in report on 2025 drone incursions

In a revised incident report on the Skrydstrup air base published on Thursday, the military admitted its account may have been wrong.

The Danish Armed Forces have admitted they made mistakes in their initial report on suspected drones of unknown origin that flew over the country in the autumn of 2025.

Ahead of an EU summit in Copenhagen in early October, drones had been seen over both civilian and military air bases, prompting heightened security measures, temporary airport closures and a ban on private drones.

The sites affected included the Skrydstrup air base, where Ukrainian pilots train on F-16 fighter jets.

After some scepticism about the official version of events, this June the government and the military confirmed that drones had flown over the country, although their origin was still unknown.

The Danish military also published a report on its handling of the incidents.

However, its detailed account of one incident was questioned after media reported that witness accounts contradicted its version.

That prompted Defence Minister Jeppe Bruus to request a review.

In the revised incident report published on Thursday, the military admitted its account may have been wrong.

Soldiers may have fired into the air while a civilian aircraft was passing nearby, they said, as some aviation and drone experts had suggested.

But it stressed that its assessment was still that the soldiers had fired at what was believed to have been a drone, based among other things on its flight pattern.

“The unit deployed in Borris was carrying out a sensitive guard duty, the purpose of which was to protect the Ukrainian trainees in the camp, and the unit observed drones over the Borris camp on September 24, 25 and 28, 2025”, it said.

Since then, Denmark has worked on improving its counter-drone and drone-detection capabilities.