Two airports in northern Denmark were forced to shut after unauthorised drone incursions disrupted operations at military facilities overnight, police said on Thursday. Authorities described the incidents as deliberate hybrid attacks designed to spread fear.
As Europe faces a rise in cyberattacks and suspected airspace violations by Russia, these events follow a series of drone incursions in recent weeks, including an incident two days earlier in Denmark. Danish officials decided not to take down any drones in their airspace for safety reasons, as the operators’ identities were unknown. Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen described the incursions as systematic, calling them a hybrid attack, while the Russian embassy in Copenhagen dismissed the disruptions as a “staged provocation.”
Drones were observed near Esbjerg and Sonderborg airports, Skrydstrup airbase—which hosts Denmark’s F-16 and F-35 fighter jets—and a military facility in Holstebro, all located in western Denmark’s Jutland peninsula. Billund airport, the country’s second-largest, was closed for one hour on Wednesday, and Aalborg airport, used for both civilian and military flights, remained shut for three hours; both reopened on Thursday morning.
Police noted that the drone activity mirrored the pattern of earlier incursions that briefly halted flights at Copenhagen airport late on Monday and early Tuesday. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen described the Copenhagen disruption as the most serious attack yet on Denmark’s infrastructure and linked it to suspected Russian drone operations and other European disruptions. She spoke with Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte about the airport shutdowns, and both agreed to strengthen coordination to protect Denmark’s infrastructure and airspace.
