Swedish authorities confirm sightings of unidentified drones near defense facility

 Police said they received a report of a suspicious drone near the Miolkusundsbron bridge.

“It’s a larger type, similar to the one seen over Denmark and Skåne,” said Mattias Lundgren, the duty head of the preliminary investigation.

On Thursday evening, several residents of Sturkö and Tjurkö reported a suspicious drone.

“It’s unclear what it was, but we filed a report for violating air transport law,” said Lundgren, a police officer in Karlskrona.

According to the police operations center, two drones flew over the towns, flashing red and green lights. None were recovered, and there are no suspects.

Police said they see a clear link to recent incidents in Denmark and Norway. The area where the drones were spotted is just a few kilometers from the naval base in Karlskrona.

On the night of Sept. 23, Copenhagen Airport was forced to halt operations for several hours after drones were detected in restricted airspace. Police in Denmark have not determined who launched them.

On the night of Sept. 25, drones were spotted over Denmark near military facilities, including Aalborg Airport, which hosts C-130 Hercules and CL-604 Challenger transport aircraft. The base is also home to the elite Jægerkorps unit, while F-16 fighters are stationed at the Skrydstrup base, where drones were also observed.

Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen called the drone incidents in the country a “hybrid attack” and stressed they were not random but “systematic actions.” He said different types of drones are being used, posing a national security threat, and that Denmark must be prepared for more incidents.

Danish journalists reported the presence of the Russian warship Alexander Shabalin in international waters near Denmark at the same time the country faced drone incidents at airports, Ekstra Bladet wrote. The vessel went unnoticed for a long time because its identification system was switched off. Experts have not ruled out a possible connection, though there is no evidence yet.

On Sept. 25, Aalborg Airport in Denmark again had to suspend operations after unknown drones appeared nearby, marking the third such incident in the past month.