558 reports of suspicious drone sightings since September 2025

Belgium’s National Crisis Center recorded 558 reports of suspicious drone sightings between 1 September 2025 and 21 January 2026, interior minister Bernard Quintin (MR) told a parliament commission.

Defense minister Theo Francken (N-VA) and mobility minister Luc Crucke (Les Engagés) also shared additional details of the drone incidents during the commission, reports Bruzz. 

It was on 4 November that Belgium first experienced serious disruption due to suspicious drone activity. Dozens of flights were delayed or canceled as air traffic at Brussels National Airport was halted due to the incidents.

Drone sightings continued in the following days, forcing the Brussels and Liège airports to suspend air traffic up to nine times. 

Among the 558 reports, 130 involved drones flying over military zones and 66 over nuclear installations. The remaining reports were at airports or Seveso-sites, which are sensitive industrial areas.  

“It’s important to point out that these are drone sightings,” explained Quintin. “For example, subsequent research showed that there were many false positive reports, or multiple reports of the same sighting. The exact number is therefore an estimate and could be considerably lower. On the other hand, it’s also possible that some flights were not reported. However it is clear that the peak was in November.” 

The National Crisis Center met on 6 November but did not issue a pre-alarm or an alert within the National Emergency Plan, the minister added. 

“The security services’ assessment was that there was no imminent danger to our citizens or critical infrastructure, but that the actions were intimidation and disruption, likely linked to a state actor, in this case Russia.”

However, it’s not easy to say how many of the 558 reports can be linked to a hybrid threat, according to the interior minister. “Copycat behaviour by domestic actors cannot be ruled out,” he said. 

Aircraft sightings also represented 10% of the drone reports, according to Francken.

Although the drones were mainly reported in the media in November, and to a lesser extent in December, there were also several sightings in January. 

Three were reported over military sites and sensitive areas. Four reports over other sites were also made, according to the defence minister.

Photo: Belgian Defence Facebook page (illustration only)