Stray drone from Ukraine worries NATO

(Bloomberg) — A six-ton unmanned reconnaissance drone that flew across Eastern Europe from Ukraine and crashed last week in the Croatian capital has raised uncomfortable questions about NATO's readiness to protect European airspace.

Surprised authorities ask how none of the three member States of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — Romania, Hungary and Croatia — reacted when the Soviet-era Tu-141 drone crossed their respective airspaces at a speed of up to 700 kilometers per hour on March 10. The authorities point to a lack of coordination between the three governments and with NATO.

“This was a clear and immediate threat to which we should have reacted,” Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said Saturday at the scene of the accident: a park located next to a student dormitory in Zagreb where he opened a 3-meter-wide crater. “We will raise this issue at all levels, as it is an incident that should never be repeated, ever.”

Croatian authorities say that the drone without weapons, which was used since the 1970s by the Red Army and the post-Soviet Ukrainian army, was launched from Ukrainian territory, although the exact circumstances and its origin are unknown. Plenković said it is not clear whether the flight was “a mistake or a sabotage”.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that a preliminary investigation showed that the ship was off course and ran out of fuel, and that investigators are trying to gather further details.

“In any case, this demonstrates the need to further strengthen integration, further strengthen the exchange of information between allies, and also to invest more and operate everything from radars to our presence of air defense and anti-missile systems,” Stoltenberg told the press in Brussels.

Officials in Zagreb are working with NATO and their counterparts in the Ukrainian Government on the circumstances of the ship's launch, as well as on traces of explosives reported in an initial discovery of the Ministry of Defense in Zagreb. It was not immediately clear whether the wreckage was part of a self-destruct mechanism with which other similar ships are equipped.

No one was hurt in the accident. The 14-meter-long vehicle, whose parachute was partially activated during the fall, damaged several cars. It had flown at an altitude of 1,300 meters, briefly crossing Romania. The drone then flew over Hungary for 40 minutes and Croatian airspace for seven minutes before falling.

Air defense systems between the three NATO states were unable to translate intermittent radar signals into a unified flight path, according to a NATO official who declined to be identified while the investigation continues. Omissions may occur, which will help improve air defense in the future, the official said.

There was no reaction

“Why didn't anyone react? That's an excellent question,” Ivan Selak, a retired Croatian lieutenant colonel who flew MiG-21 planes for 35 years, said on the phone from Zagreb. There must be an integrated defense system to protect NATO countries, he said. “Even without a warning from NATO, in a case like this, a country should react and activate its fighter jets.”

The drone flew too fast and at low altitude during its brief trip through Romania, officials said there. These factors “did not allow additional measures to be taken to identify the aircraft,” said the Ministry of Defence in Bucharest.

Original Note:

Stray Soviet-Era Drone From Ukraine Raises NATO Concerns (1)

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