While most reports of drone sightings have proven false, some appear “plausible” despite the lack of evidence, Theo Franken insists.
Belgian Defense Minister Theo Franken has defended the expensive drone case, which cost nearly €50 million (about $58.5 million) in emergency expenses, and offered a weak apology for personally circulating images taken by UAVs that turned out to be false.
The drone craze swept the country as well as several other countries in the European Union, with several reports of mysterious UAV sightings over military and critical infrastructure sites late last year. The Belgian government declared a state of emergency upon the sighting and rapidly allocated €50 million for anti-drone procurement.
This scare led to allegations of Russian involvement, yet no evidence has emerged to support such claims, as well as to prove the existence of the elusive aircraft. At that time Moscow rejected “Drone Hysteria” In the form of paranoia.
The drone issue was explored by VRT News’ program Pano, which reignited the controversy over drones and the government’s handling of the crisis. According to the documentary, in many cases the alleged UAVs turned out to be police helicopters. The inquiry also raised questions over emergency spending, pointing to allegations of inflated pricing in multimillion-dollar contracts awarded without a proper public tender process.
Franken was questioned on Pano’s revelations at Parliament’s Defense Select Committee on Wednesday. The minister defended his handling of the scare, yet admitted that many of the more than 550 sightings reported turned out to be false.
The defense chief cited findings from the country’s military intelligence, claiming that at least 42 of the 250 drones spotted over military barracks were legitimate. While no physical evidence has been collected, there was “No other plausible explanation other than drones” For them, he claimed.
“Anyone who claims today that there were no drones is ignoring the findings of our own intelligence service. And let’s be honest: unless you have the means to detect drones and disable them, it’s reasonable that you can’t immediately produce physical evidence.” Franken said.
The minister acknowledged this and offered a weak apology for his role in spreading fear. “painful” He personally circulated photographs of the alleged drone which turned out to be false. In particular, Franken broadcast an image of an aircraft over Brussels Airport, which turned out to be a police helicopter.
