Unknown drone was shot down near military base in Estonia
On October 17, one of two unidentified drones was shot down near the base of the Estonian Defense Forces' 2nd Infantry Brigade in the town of Reedo.
This was reported by the Estonian daily newspaper Postimees, according to Censor.NET.
The base is located in the south of the country, approximately 45 km from the border with Russia. Allies detected two drones near it at around 4:30 p.m. on October 17. Liis Vaksmann, press secretary of the Estonian Defense Forces General Staff, said that one of them was shot down with an anti-drone rifle.
"The defense forces do not comment in detail on incidents related to security," Waxmann said.
Where did the drone fall?
According to her, law enforcement officers tried to find the downed drone, but found nothing at the presumed crash site.
The town of Reedo is also home to the 5th Squadron of the 7th Cavalry Regiment (5-7 CAV), an armored reconnaissance unit that is part of the NATO allied forces in the region.
What preceded it?
On October 27, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna stated that NATO aircraft would open fire on Russian aircraft in the event of an immediate threat to Estonia's sovereignty.
Also on Tuesday evening, May 13, a Russian Su-35 fighter jet violated Estonian airspace in the vicinity of the Juminda Peninsula.
On September 19, three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets flew into Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland without permission and remained there for 12 minutes.
From September 15 to 21, NATO fighter jets took off several times to patrol the airspace over the Baltic Sea and the borders of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania with Russia and Belarus.
At the beginning of October, Lieutenant General Andrus Merilo, Commander of the Estonian Defense Forces, stated that shooting down Russian fighter jets that recently violated Estonian airspace would be a strategic mistake.
