‘We have to shoot them out of the skies, but it won’t be easy,’ says Belgian defence minister Theo Francken (Flemish nationalist N-VA) now that drones have once again been spotted above a Belgian military base. Now Francken quickly wants to decide on major investments in more anti-drone systems. He is presenting a package of investments worth 50 million euros to cabinet next week, but is arguing for long term investments of half-billion euros.
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Defence minister Francken plans major investments in anti-drone systems
Colin Clapson
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In recent days, several times now drones have been spotted above the military base at Marche-en-Famenne (Wallonia). ‘They were most likely operated by professional drone pilots who were mapping certain things,’ defence minister Theo Francken said.
In recent months, and with increasing frequency drones have been spotted over military bases in various places in Europe. In Belgium, drones were observed over the Elsenborn military base in the High Fens near the German border at the beginning of this month.
On VRT radio Francken explicitly pointed to Russia. ‘We are looking at state actors, and the state actor that poses the greatest threat at the moment is, of course, Russia, because of the war in Ukraine.’
According to Francken, the drones are being used for espionage, but also to destabilise. When asked why Marche-en-Famenne is being targeted, he replied: ‘I'm not going to say. That's the headquarters of our army. There's a lot of interesting information to be found there.’
The minister is not at all surprised that Belgium is being targeted. ‘As a small country, Belgium is disproportionately targeted by Russia. We are also at the top of the list in terms of cyber-attacks, so it is not surprising that this drone activity – which is quite unusual – is also taking place in Belgium.’
‘This is partly due to the presence of NATO’s headquarters, the military command in Mons, but also due to the presence of Swift (an international payment system headquartered in La Hulpe near Brussels) and Euroclear (the Belgian company where large amounts of Russian cash have been blocked since 2022.’
‘Dossier is ready’
‘What did the previous government do?’ Francken asks. ‘I have been a minister for nine months now, but the drone threat is not something that was invented nine months ago.’ Francken criticises the lack of investment in anti-drone systems and wants to rectify this as soon as possible.
He is presenting a plan to purchase an additional €50 million worth of anti-drone systems in the short term to cabinet next week. ‘The dossier is ready: we need extra detection equipment, but also anti-drone jammers and anti-drone guns.’
According to experts, the systems Francken is talking about are no guarantee for success. ‘We have to shoot the drones out of the sky, but that's not easy,’ the defence minister admitted. In order to combat the drone threat even more effectively, he is therefore talking about a further investment of half a billion euros.
Francken would like to invest this cash in a ‘real anti-drone package’. He is referring to radar systems for detection and additional jamming. However, such large investments must comply with European regulations. ‘It will take more than a year to get that all sorted out,’ says Francken.