Lithuania lifts air alert after radar detects flock of birds

Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Center (NKVC) said it received a report at 12:56 p.m. local time about an unidentified object in the country’s airspace.

Operative Information Center-OMM reports, citing Lithuanian media and the NKVC, that the incident prompted a security response.

A yellow alert over a possible aerial threat was declared in Vilnius and surrounding areas at 12:59 p.m. NATO fighter jets on duty in Lithuania were scrambled to investigate an object that radar data suggested could be an unmanned aerial vehicle. The investigation determined that the object was a flock of birds rather than a drone. The NKVC said flocks of birds and unmanned aerial vehicles can produce similar signatures on initial radar images.

The air threat alert, which lasted about 40 minutes, was canceled. Flights also resumed at Vilnius Airport, which had been temporarily closed.

Radar-based airspace monitoring is used to identify potential aerial threats, while fighter aircraft may be deployed to verify unidentified contacts. Lithuania, a NATO member, maintains air surveillance and rapid-response arrangements as part of the alliance’s regional security measures.