Suspected drone shut Vilnius airport; Lithuania clarifies what the radar that alarmed the country actually picked up

Lithuania has clarified that the alarm over a suspected drone in its airspace — which prompted authorities to close Vilnius airport and NATO to scramble at least one fighter jet — turned out to be a flock of birds.

The air alarm was lifted and the airport reopened within 38 minutes, after the NATO aircraft made a visual identification, Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Center said.

“In initial radar readings, the tracks left by birds and drones can be similar,” it added in a statement.

One aircraft had been called up from Šiauliai in northern Lithuania, the center said, where Italian air forces are currently stationed as part of NATO’s Baltic Air Defense mission.

Military drones roaming outside the airspace of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are raising concerns that the war in Ukraine is spreading to NATO’s northern borders with Russia.