Hybrid warfare

Belgium, Poland and Romania gear up to shoot down Russian drones

Warsaw and Bucharest introduce the Merops system, already announced at the end of September. Urgent Security Council in Belgium

by Antonio Talia

6 November 2025

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

The National Security Council convened on an emergency basis in Belgium, a new defence system just deployed in Poland and Romania, soon to be deployed in Denmark: almost two months after drone incursions into European skies have become increasingly common, producing alerts and air traffic blocks, the response of EU and NATO countries must take into account costs and strategic issues.

Warsaw and Bucharest are today introducing the Merops system, announced back in late September. It is an electro-optical surveillance system small enough to be carried in a medium-sized pickup truck, capable of identifying and eventually shooting down hostile drones, while also employing artificial intelligence devices in the event of interference to satellite and electronic communications. 'It's a system capable of targeting and even shooting down drones, at a low cost,' Colonel Mark McLellan, NATO Allied Land Command's number two operations officer, told Associated Press. 'It's a lot cheaper than scrambling F-35s and shooting down drones with a missile.

On 9 September, at around 11.30 p.m., between 19 and 23 Russian drones had violated Polish airspace, leading to the reaction of the Polish Air Force and the air force of other NATO countries, which shot down some of the aircraft.

Poland had called it one of the most serious incidents since the collapse of the Soviet Union and had invoked Article 4 of the Atlantic Treaty, which provides for consultations between the alliance countries in the event of obvious threats. Only four days later, other Russian drones had entered Romania's airspace, highlighting a structural weakness of NATO's entire eastern flank: to what extent is it functional to spend millions on deploying military jets against drones costing a few thousand Euros?

The Russian incursions underlined the need for new means of defence, in a military context to which the conflict in Ukraine is bringing constant changes: several European conglomerates are developing systems similar to Merops - a joint US-Turkish production - including anti-drone missiles, while several many EU political leaders and senior military officers are calling for the creation of an Eastern Flank Deterrence Line, i.e. a zone of layered defences along NATO's eastern flank.

But, as we have reported in our hybrid warfare specials, these threats can also be very difficult to identify: the drones that have disrupted traffic at various airports in Denmark, Norway, Germany and Belgium over the past two months, the swarms that have flown over military bases in Belgium, Sweden and Denmark, and the balloons that on several occasions have paralysed the airport in Vilnius, Lithuania, have not been traced back with certainty to a specific nation.

Before today's convening of the National Security Council, the Brussels government did not accuse a specific nation, but an administration source told the Belgian news agency that 'there is little doubt' about the Russian origin of the drone swarms.

Belgium, according to rumours in the local media, wants to propose a common European framework to respond 'to drone threats from abroad'.

In the meantime, we must not allow hostile drones to enter our territory or fly over our military bases. The orders and directives are clear: if possible, we will shoot them down,' said Defence Minister Theo Francken.