Serbia issues shoot-down order for drones

The Serbian military now has orders to immediately destroy any hostile drone in the country’s airspace, President Aleksandar Vucic announced on Tuesday. The new rules of engagement come after MiG-29 interceptors were sent to fend off UAVs spotted above military bases near the boundary with the disputed province of Kosovo.

Multiple unmanned aerial vehicles were detected above a military facility near Merdare, one of the designated crossings between Kosovo and the rest of Serbia, and Vucic ordered the military to deploy planes with orders to shoot. The drones then quickly withdrew, the media in Belgrade reported. The order to shoot down any hostile drone remains in effect, however.

Defense Minister Milos Vucevic revealed earlier on Tuesday that the military has already been placed on high alert “to be prepared to respond to any task,” as the ethnic Albanian administration in Kosovo attempted to coerce Serbs living there to change their car license plates and documents.