Washington DC
fromwww.aljazeera.com
3 days agoCongressmen call for National Guard to address drone threat at World Cup
Congressmen urge immediate action to secure airspace over World Cup 2026 host cities against potential drone threats.
We recently acquired information that as of early February 2026, Iran allegedly aspired to conduct a surprise attack using unmanned aerial vehicles from an unidentified vessel off the coast of the United States Homeland, specifically against unspecified targets in California, in the event that the US conducted strikes against Iran.
ŠIAULIAI AIR BASE, Lithuania - A Spanish fighter wing deployed to the Baltics for air patrol missions alongside anti-drone defenses for the first time, a reaction to growing uncrewed threats to European infrastructure. Spain's 15th Wing arrived at Šiauliai Air Base in December to begin a four-month rotation contributing to NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission, designed to protect the airspace around Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. The Crow counter-drone system came with it.
Europe currently does not have the means to defend itself against potential Russian drone attacks and needs to integrate Ukraine's know-how and capabilities to boost its defense, EU defense commissioner Andrius Kubilius said on Monday. "Why did it take us more than two years and the trigger of the Russian provocation with drones against Poland, and also against Baltic States and Romania, to understand that we are not ready to detect Russian drones and to destroy them with cost-effective means?"