# UK sends military support to Belgium after suspected drone incursions
*Event date: 2025-11-09*
Britain is sending military support to Belgium after a series of suspected drone incursions over Belgian airspace, according to BBC News.
The UK’s new chief of the defence staff, Sir Richard Knighton, said Belgium had requested assistance in the form of personnel and equipment earlier in the week and that support was now on the way. The BBC said members of the RAF’s 2 Force Protection Wing were likely to be deployed and that the UK would help by providing kit and capability.
The immediate trigger was disruption at Brussels Airport, which was forced to close temporarily after drones were spotted nearby. Drones were also seen at other locations, including a military base. The report says the disruption affected about 3,000 Brussels Airlines passengers and forced the carrier to cancel or divert dozens of flights.
Belgian and German officials had already raised concern that Russia may have been involved, although the Belgian defence minister had also said there was no evidence to support that claim. Knighton told the BBC that the source of the drones was not yet known for sure, though he said it was plausible they had been ordered by Moscow.
The support from Britain came alongside similar assistance from Germany, which said it would help Belgium with anti-drone measures. The episode underlined how a series of drone incidents across several Nato countries has moved from a security nuisance to an infrastructure problem affecting airports and military sites.
Sir Richard Knighton described Russia as the most pressing threat to Europe and said the illegal invasion of Ukraine had shown the barbaric nature of Russia’s war efforts. He also said sabotage and killings had been carried out by Russia on UK soil and that the UK needed to strengthen itself against hybrid warfare.
The source places the Belgian incident in a wider pattern that includes drone sightings across Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany. It also notes that officials have not produced evidence linking every case to Moscow, even as suspicions have grown.
That uncertainty is part of the story. The UK is not claiming it has proof of Russian responsibility; it is responding to a request from Belgium in a threat environment where the question of attribution remains open but the operational disruption is immediate.
For Belgium, the immediate problem was airport safety and continuity. For Britain, the decision signalled support for a Nato ally facing a type of pressure that is difficult to attribute, harder to deter and easier to repeat.
