RIGA, May 7 (LETA) - The military industry all over the world, including Latvia, is working on the ability to detect flying drones from a long distance and to have enough time to shoot them down, but so far such fully working solutions are not yet available and drones are detected acoustically from a relatively short distance, Brigadier General Egils Lescinskis, Deputy Chief of the National Armed Forces' Joint Staff for Operational Affairs, admitted at a press conference on Thursday.

He explained that the information provided by Ukraine about its drones would not help Latvia much, as they change their trajectory after being diverted from their original target and no one can predict when and where they will appear.

"We know that something is flying in the territory of Russia or Belarus because we have our own sources of information, but we are not always able to detect that a small drone is crossing the border of Latvian airspace," Lesscinskis said.

He said that on three occasions this morning acoustic sensors picked up signals from objects, but it was not immediately possible to determine that they were drones. Lescinskis explained that after the initial detection, it could just as well have been mopeds, motorcycles or other vehicles. Once the trajectory of the object is mapped, the armed forces start to realize that these are drones.

"In this case, the drone crashed before we could do anything," said Lescinskis.

He explained that this morning the air defense groups were activated, the Baltic airspace patrol mission stayed in the air for quite a long time, but there was no need to take a decision to destroy the objects.

Lescinskis pointed out that the classical radar system is able to detect large objects, such as planes, helicopters, even at a distance of 400 kilometers, but since 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, drones are a new kind of threat that requires new solutions. According to him, there must be effective weapon systems that can react more quickly, including being controlled by artificial intelligence.

"We are working to ensure that all the resources at our disposal are directed towards the eastern border. New equipment will come this year, but everything takes time," said Lescinskis.

As reported, several unmanned aerial vehicles flew into Latvian airspace from Russia in the early hours of Thursday, at least one of which crashed in Rezekne, damaging an oil storage facility.

At the request of the National Armed Forces, the State Fire and Rescue Service (VUGD) sent out a cell broadcast notification at 4.09 in Ludza, Balvi and at 4.43 in the Rezekne region. At around 8.30 a.m. the armed forces declared the end of the threat.

The National Armed Forces remind that while the Russian aggression in Ukraine is ongoing, there is a possibility of recurrence of cases of foreign UAVs entering or approaching Latvian airspace.