French Rafale shoots down unknown drone over Latvia

French Rafale shoots down unknown drone over Latvia

A France Rafale from NATO’s Baltic air security mission shot down an unidentified drone that entered Latvian airspace from Russia.

A Rafale of the French Air and Space Force currently deployed in Lithuania as part of the NATO Baltic air security mission shot down an unknown drone that entered Latvian airspace on the morning of 8 June 2026. This incident follows a similar incident last month in which a Romanian F-16 shot down a drone over Estonia.

The Latvian military said the drone entered sovereign airspace from Russian territory “as a result of Russian electromagnetic warfare.” At the time of writing, it is still unclear whether the drone is of Russian or Ukrainian origin.

While authorities warned residents to evacuate, Rafales deployed at Shauliai air base scrambled to intercept and identify the drones. Latvian Defense Minister Raivis Melnis said that after the interception, NATO command ordered an engagement and that the drone was shot down at 10:05 local time (07:05 GMT) near the village of Berzgale, about 30 kilometers from the border.

The video reportedly shows the moment one of the Rafales opens fire and fires an air-to-air missile at the drone. No injuries or property damage were reported.

Latvia publicly thanked NATO and France for responding to the threat, and Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs praised the “decisive and highly professional actions” to ensure the country’s security.

Similar recent incidents

Less than a month later, on May 19, 2026, the Estonian Defense Forces announced that a Romanian F-16 Fighting Falcon had shot down a drone that entered Estonian airspace. Similar to the Latvia incident, “a large-scale electronic warfare situation, including Russian GPS spoofing and radio jamming,” was reported.

According to the statement, air surveillance units were monitoring drones approaching Estonian airspace. The drone was detected entering “Estonian airspace heading northeast from Russian airspace in the southeastern corner of Estonia” at 12pm local time.

F-16 shot down drone EstoniaF-16 shot down drone Estonia
File photo of two Romanian Air Force F-16s in the Baltic Sea. (Image source: NATO Allied Air Command)

A Romanian F-16 currently deployed to Lithuania as part of NATO’s Baltic air security mission intercepted a drone “south of the village of Põltsamaa.” After visual identification, “the jet fired a single missile to neutralize the threat, bringing down the unmanned aircraft system at 12:14 PM local time.”

After Estonia said the drone was “likely to be of Ukrainian origin,” Ukraine issued a public apology for the incident, calling it “unintentional” and saying the drone had been diverted to the Baltic region by electronic warfare. As the Baltic states noted earlier, the countries also confirmed that Estonia, Finland’s Latvia and Lithuania have all never permitted the use of their airspace for attacks against Russia, and Ukraine has never requested such use.

baltic air security

The Romanian Air Force deployed six F-16s with 100 troops to Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania. These aircraft replace the Spanish Air Force detachment previously in the Baltic region.

The F-16s are deployed alongside four Rafales from the French Aerospace Forces, which operate from the same base as part of the ninth rotation. Both detachments are integrated within NATO’s command and control structure to maintain rapid response alert and protect Allied airspace.

Recently, NATO Allied Air Command (AIRCOM) led counter-drone exercises over Lithuania and Latvia on 27 May 2026 as part of the Enhanced Alertness Activity (eVA) Eastern Sentry. The exercise involved Romanian and Portuguese F-16 fighter jets, the Lithuanian Sea-Based Air and Missile Defense (SBAMD), the Spanish National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NSAMS), and the Romanian Patriot system in an anti-unmanned aerial system (c-UAS) scenario focused on Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD).

A French spokesman said last week that BAP detachments had conducted several intercepts of Russian aircraft, making a total of 11 sorties. On June 2 alone, French fighters intercepted six aircraft.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR