Following several drone sightings at Brussels and Liege airports, energy operator Engie has confirmed that three drones were spotted over its Doel nuclear power facility on November 9. The area is a no-fly zone.
Belga News Agency says the drones, sighted just before 10 p.m., had no impact on the facility’s operations.
Meanwhile, Het Nieuwsblad reports that Belgium’s federal police failed to deploy its dedicated drone interception team quickly during a security breach over Brussels Airport on November 4. The team was first established in 2021 and now comprises around 30 certified officers. According to police sources cited by Het Nieuwblad, the unit is equipped with two detection antennas, four jammers to intercept drones and three net launchers to immobilise them. The team reportedly installed one detection antenna near Brussels Airport and another in the city centre over the weekend and is also extending its efforts to airports in Ostend, Charleroi, and Liege.
During a BBC television interview on November 9, Chief of the Defence Staff of the United Kingdom, Sir Richard Knighton said the UK is providing military support to Belgium “after a series of suspected Russian drone incursions into its airspace”. He said that his Belgian counterpart had asked for assistance last week and that equipment and personnel were “on the way”.
Image: Doel nuclear power facility pictured in 2008. (Wwuyts / Wikimedia. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.)
