The Polish Army announced a violation of its airspace by objects that entered from Belarus. The information was disclosed in a statement by the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces on the social network X.
According to the official report, the incursion was recorded on the night of Wednesday, January 28. Initial analysis indicates that the objects were likely balloons — possibly meteorological. “The flight of all objects was continuously monitored by the military radar systems of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland,” the command reported.
As a preventive measure, authorities imposed a temporary restriction on civil aircraft traffic in part of the Podlaskie Voivodeship, a region near the country’s eastern border. After assessing parameters such as flight characteristics, speed, and direction, the military concluded that the objects were moving in accordance with meteorological conditions and did not pose an immediate threat to the security of Polish airspace.
The command emphasized, however, that incidents of this type fall within the set of hybrid actions faced by Poland along its eastern border. As an example, an incident that occurred in late December was cited, when 59 balloons crossed from Belarusian territory into Poland. At the time, security services linked the launches to smuggling activities.
In addition to tobacco products, satellite navigation devices were found at the crash sites, which would have made it possible to track the flight routes. Polish authorities do not rule out that the launch of meteorological probes may have objectives beyond smuggling, including testing the response of air surveillance systems.
According to security services, these balloons are capable of reaching altitudes of up to 9,000 meters, which makes their detection by conventional monitoring means difficult.
Source and images: Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces, X @DowOperSZ | Militarnyi. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
