https://news.sky.com/story/lithuania-declares-state-of-emergency-over-belarus-balloons-13481251
Lithuania has declared a state of emergency over smuggler balloons from Belarus that have disrupted aviation.
Vilnius airport has been closed because of the balloons, which Lithuania says have been sent by smugglers transporting cigarettes in recent weeks.
They're some large balloons! Surely the cost to do this would be more than the gain. Most of the balloons and cigarettes would likely be seized by the military, police or even ordinary people.
Interesting if Belarus blames smugglers as cover to economically attacking Lithuania.
"We are not attacking you, it is this organized crime group"
Could be a fake out to see the response time or anything else they might need to know before an invasion.
That could be true.
I was thinking more like, a couple $200 dollar balloon causes your enemy to shutdown their commercial airport. I would guess the daily loses of airport being closed would be in the hundreds of thousands if not million of dollars a day.
The Vilnius airport is some 25km from the Belarusian border. The balloons fly very slowly and are very visible. Should be trivial to take them down in the first few kms once they enter Lithuania, no?
Probably not to hard to hit but still likely a cost effective to Belarus.
Also every round fire comes down some place. I don't know if there is collateral damage to be concerned with trying to shot down the balloons.