US sending anti-drone system to Denmark for EU summit

COPENHAGEN: The United States will deploy anti-drone defences to Denmark as it hosts an EU summit this week, Copenhagen’s defence ministry said on Tuesday (Sep 30), after a wave of drone sightings forced several airport closures across the Nordic country.

The move comes after Copenhagen Airport, the busiest in northern Europe, was shut for hours last week along with several smaller airports following reports of large drones in their airspace. Drones were also observed over Danish military sites, though no new incidents have been reported since Sep 27.

Danish officials have voiced concern that the activity could be linked to Russian surveillance and have warned of hybrid threats against critical infrastructure.

MULTIPLE COUNTRIES SENDING SYSTEMS

Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden have also deployed anti-drone systems to Denmark in the run-up to the summit, which will gather more than 40 EU leaders on Wednesday and Thursday.

“We are pleased and grateful that the USA also supports Denmark with anti-drone capabilities in connection with the upcoming summit,” the defence ministry wrote on X.

SECURITY LEVEL RAISED

To secure the gathering, Denmark on Sunday banned all civilian drone flights until Friday so that hostile drones cannot be mistaken for legal ones.

On Tuesday, the country raised the security alert for energy facilities to “orange,” the second-highest level, citing the risk of sabotage and hybrid attacks.