| Date | 9 Sep 2025 |
| Tracker | European Airspace Violations |
| Type | Interception |
| Location |
Elbląg, Poland
54.16, 19.40 (approximate) |
On the night of 9-10 September at least 21 Russian drones entered Polish airspace, the largest incursion into NATO territory of the war. Polish, Dutch, Italian and American aircraft operated in the airspace and air defence systems were placed on high alert; up to four drones were shot down. Warsaw, Warsaw Modlin, Rzeszów and Lublin airports closed for the night. One drone crashed at Oleśno near Elbląg, more than 200 km from the eastern border. Poland invoked Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty in response.
| Date | Type | Incident |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Sep 2025 | Incursion | Russian drone fragments identified near Plauru after initial denial |
| 4 Sep 2025 | Incursion | Two Russian drones monitored inside Polish airspace |
| 8 Sep 2025 | Incursion | Drone with Cyrillic markings crashes near the Belarus border |
| 13 Sep 2025 | Incursion | Russian drone tracked for 50 minutes over Romanian airspace |
GlobalMilitary.net's 2026 inventory snapshot shows nine NATO members — Iceland, Luxembourg, the three Baltic states, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia and Slovenia — hold no fixed-wing fighters, attack aircraft or bombers and depend on Allied air policing.
GlobalMilitary.net's incident log counts 45 established violations of European airspace between January 1 and August 16, 2026, against 31 for the whole of 2025 - and almost all of the growth sits in incidents that ended with a shootdown or an explosion on the ground.
An Italian Eurofighter on NATO Baltic Air Policing duty destroyed an unidentified drone over eastern Latvia before dawn on 14 August, the second time the alliance's quick-reaction force has shot one down over the country this year.