Following the failure to shoot down one of the drones that entered Latvian airspace last week, procedures have been reviewed and the decision-making chain shortened to enable faster responses in the future, Defence Minister Raivis Melnis said on Monday during an interview with Latvian Television’s Rīta panorāma programme.
The minister explained that drone interception teams operating on the ground will now have greater decision-making authority, allowing them to act when they detect a target.
Meanwhile, the command centre will be able to suspend an interception mission if allied aircraft enter the threat area and their safety could be compromised.
Melnis said he had personally reviewed the entire decision-making process together with military commanders in Latvia’s eastern border region, removing some of the additional safeguards that had previously been introduced.
He expressed hope that these changes would make it possible to successfully shoot down drones in the future.
Explaining the previous failure, the minister acknowledged that the drone had been detected and was being followed by an interceptor drone. However, due to existing procedures and possibly a lack of experience, the target was not destroyed.
Melnis apologised to residents for the failure.
The minister explained that Latvia had previously also relied on allied aircraft for drone interception.
When an interceptor drone and allied aircraft are operating in the same airspace, additional coordination is required to ensure that attempts to destroy the drone do not endanger other aircraft.
This coordination had taken time.
According to the minister, additional radar systems have been deployed along Latvia’s eastern border to detect drones earlier and enable a more timely response.
The drone interception system was deployed at the end of September, as previously promised, and military personnel are continuing to learn how to operate it.
Melnis emphasised that the system’s ability to detect a drone and launch an interceptor drone had been successfully tested in practice.
Last week, Latvian entrepreneurs also worked alongside soldiers in the border region to improve the system.
The minister expressed hope that aligning operational procedures with technical solutions would enable successful drone interceptions in the future.
As previously reported, an unmanned aerial vehicle was discovered in Liepna Parish, Alūksne Municipality, after possibly crashing on the 18th of October.
The State Police reported receiving information on Saturday morning about suspected drone debris found in a forest in Liepna Parish.
Upon arriving at the scene and examining the difficult-to-access forest area, officers confirmed the report.
The State Police completed their work at the scene on Saturday evening, although investigative activities will continue.
Criminal proceedings have been initiated under Chapter 10 of the Criminal Law, “Crimes Against the State”.
Police thanked the resident who discovered the debris for acting responsibly and immediately reporting the finding.
The National Armed Forces (NBS) have also launched an internal investigation to assess the circumstances of the incident and the decisions made.
According to the NBS, information was received on the 18th of October about an explosion-like sound in Liepna Parish, Alūksne Municipality.
After receiving the report from the State Police, the NBS began an in-depth analysis of data from airspace surveillance systems.
The analysis revealed information suggesting that an unidentified object may have travelled through Latvian airspace.
Based on these findings, the NBS, in cooperation with the State Police, launched a search for the object’s possible crash site.
Search operations continued on the 19th of October.
However, after two days, the search was suspended because the information available at the time was insufficient to confirm that the object had crashed or to determine its possible location.