Lithuania invests in tech to counter intensifying hybrid balloon threats

Lithuania’s government is investing heavily in defense technology and surveillance systems via a strategic security plan to thwart what it views as escalating hybrid attacks involving balloons and drones from Russia-allied Belarus, which rejects allegations of wrongdoing.

While those neighboring nations established diplomatic relations in the early 1990s after the Soviet Union dissolved, their modern relationship is increasingly tense. Lithuania declared a national emergency this week, due to threats from meteorological balloons that it says violated its airspace and were sent from Belarus.

“A comprehensive set of measures has been taken to counter and mitigate the threat, based on the safety-first approach,” an official in the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Communication Department told DefenseScoop. 

Read more at DefenseScoop