| Date | 18 Mar 2026 |
| Tracker | European Airspace Violations |
| Type | Incursion |
| Location |
Vaindloo Island, Estonia
59.82, 26.36 (approximate) |
The Estonian Defence Forces reported that a Russian Su-30 had violated Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland near Vaindloo island. The aircraft carried no published flight plan and made no two-way radio contact with Estonian air traffic control. Vaindloo is the same point at which three MiG-31s crossed for twelve minutes in September 2025.
| Date | Type | Incident |
|---|---|---|
| 13 Mar 2026 | Incursion | Russian drone filmed flying low over Romanian village |
| 17 Mar 2026 | Incursion | Russian Geran-2 falls near Tudora, Moldova |
| 21 Mar 2026 | Incursion | Five balloons found along Poland eastern border |
| 23 Mar 2026 | Incursion | Ukrainian drone crashes into frozen lake in Lithuania |
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.