Dutch police are investigating Friday’s incident. Officials said
that for security reasons they would provide no further details
about how the drones or what action was taken,
Azernews reports via BBC.
As well as being used by the Royal Netherlands Air Force, Volkel
Air Base hosts a US Air Force squadron as part of Nato.
The incident follows reports of drone sightings at other Dutch
air bases in the past few weeks, as well as facilities in
neighbouring Belgium, Denmark and Germany.
The sightings have disrupted air traffic and raised security
concerns.
A lack of evidence pointing to their origins has plagued
investigations into the incidents since they began in September, as
in many cases the drones depart after a while.
Some European officials have attributed the sightings to “hybrid
warfare” on the part of Russia, as the nations that have been
targeted are all allied to Ukraine.
But the Kremlin has denied it has anything to do with past
incursions.
Defence ministers from 10 EU countries have agreed to create a
“drone wall” in response to the sightings, while some individual
nations have sought to secure anti-drone defence measures.
Unidentified drones have been observed hovering over a military
base used by Nato in the Netherlands, the Dutch defence ministry
has said.
It said military personnel deployed weapons to try to take down
the drones spotted near Volkel Air Base, north of Eindhoven,
between 19:00 and 21:00 local time (18:00-20:00 GMT) on Friday.
The defence ministry said the devices “departed and were never
recovered”.
The Netherlands is among a number of northern European nations
to be blighted by drone sightings around military installations and
airfields in recent months. Russia has denied accusations it was
involved in previous incidents.