Belgian’s Defence Minister Theo Francken has been accused of over-reacting to alleged hostile drone sightings and launching an overly expensive counter drone programme.
“In October last year, a number of drones were seen above the Elsenborn military base,” reports the Brussels Times. “Over the next few weeks, drones were regularly reported above Belgian military bases and airports, causing flight disruptions. Francken called the situation a “military crisis” and pushed to accelerate Belgium’s action plan against drones, launching a EUR50 million anti-drone scheme.
A Flemish public broadcaster VRT’s investigative programme Pano claimed that the minister exaggerated the drone sightings, attributed them to Russia without evidence and launched his anti-drone plan without a public tender that was too expensive and ineffective…..As part of its investigation, VRT claimed to have found no evidence of hostile drones over Belgian military bases and airports at the end of last year.”
According to VRT, Francken’s fast-track anti-drone procurements – without public tenders and without quantified price control – were financially unsound.
VRT also reported that the minister rejected the allegations and said that the parliamentary committee on military procurement approved everything, with the exception of one abstention.
For more information
https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2026/04/16/defence-minister-francken-insists-law-was-followed-to-the-letter/
(Image: Theo Francken -Belgian’s Federal Public Service)