NATO launches “Eastern Sentry” to defend eastern flank after Russian drone incursions

NATO launches “Eastern Sentry” to defend eastern flank after Russian drone incursions

NATO on Friday announced a new operation, dubbed “Eastern Sentry,” to bolster air and maritime defences along the alliance’s eastern flank after a wave of unmanned aerial vehicles crossed into Polish airspace earlier in the week — an incident that led Polish pilots and allied aircraft to shoot down multiple drones and briefly forced the closure of several airports. The move is the alliance’s most visible collective response so far to spillovers from the war in Ukraine and reflects a determination among NATO members to close gaps in deterrence and air-defence coverage. 

Speaking at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the operation would deploy an integrated package of assets — fighter aircraft, maritime patrol and air-defence systems — and would be flexible in scope, covering the whole eastern flank rather than a single fixed deployment. U.S. Air Force General Alexus G. Grynkewich, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said the initiative was designed to reassure allies and protect “every inch” of NATO territory while keeping Moscow uncertain about where and how the alliance might respond. 

Poland triggered the crisis earlier this week after radar tracked a formation of drones and related objects that crossed into its airspace from the direction of Belarus amid a wider Russian aerial campaign over Ukraine. Polish authorities said allied fighters and air-defence systems engaged the objects; the incursion prompted short-term closures of Warsaw’s major airports and disruption at logistics hubs that support aid and military shipments to Ukraine. Warsaw has labelled the incursion deliberate and invoked emergency consultations with NATO allies under Article 4, which opens formal talks on alliance security concerns. 

Eastern Sentry will draw on contributions from several allies immediately, NATO officials said. Early participants include France, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Germany; assets publicly reported include Rafale and Eurofighter fighters, additional F-16s, German ground-based systems and a Danish frigate tasked with protecting maritime approaches. Officials emphasised the operation’s agility — rotating platforms and rapid-reaction elements rather than permanent mass deployments — to deter further spillovers while limiting permanent escalation footprints on the ground. 

The timing and visibility of the response underline how NATO leaders view this episode: not as an isolated technical breach but as part of a pattern of increasingly risky cross-border activity that could, if unchecked, force the alliance into more costly, sustained defence measures. Rutte described the drone entries as “reckless and unacceptable,” and allies signalled they would push to tighten air-defence posture, increase AWACS surveillance, and accelerate coordination with Poland and other eastern members. 

Moscow denied responsibility for intentionally targeting NATO territory. Russian officials said the drones had not been aimed at Poland and suggested incidents could result from navigational errors or electronic-warfare effects in an active combat theatre. Belarus, whose territory the drones appear to have transited, offered explanations that included jamming-related deviations. Those accounts, however, have done little to calm allied concern that the pattern of incidents — and the sheer volume of unmanned systems now in use — increases the risk of miscalculation with major strategic consequences. 

The operation has practical and political objectives. Operationally, it aims to plug gaps exposed by the recent incursion: by adding fighter cover, layered surface-to-air capabilities and maritime surveillance, NATO seeks to deter future flights from approaching allied airspace unchecked and to reassure civilians and governments in the Baltics, Poland and beyond. Politically, Eastern Sentry signals a unified, public posture meant to dissuade Russia from further testing NATO’s resolve while giving capitals time to deliberate additional measures — from sanctions to tighter enforcement against shadow shipping that fuels Moscow’s war economy. 

The alliance faces hard choices about scale and duration. Some members favour a strong, visible deterrent that would include permanent rotations and upgraded defences in high-risk areas; others worry that more intrusive deployments risk a cycle of escalation and entangle NATO more directly in the fighting dynamics around Ukraine. The balance NATO seeks — robust deterrence short of permanent occupation or combat missions inside Ukraine — will be politically delicate, particularly for members bordering Russia and Belarus. 

Economic and civilian disruptions have already been tangible. The temporary closure earlier this week of Warsaw’s Chopin Airport and other regional hubs affected commercial flights and complicated the flow of military and humanitarian logistics into Ukraine. That disruption highlighted a secondary vulnerability: the conflict’s capacity to choke critical transport nodes in allied territory and to impose hidden costs on European economies even without full-scale escalation. 

Analysts say Eastern Sentry is both necessary and risky. It addresses immediate air-defence shortfalls and reassures anxious allies; at the same time, its success depends on sustained political will and on avoiding calibration errors that could turn defensive intercepts into flashpoints. The widespread availability of low-cost drones means that the threshold for provoking allied responses is now lower, and the alliance must design rules of engagement and escalation-management protocols that are precise and widely accepted to prevent accidents from spiralling.

What to watch next: NATO allies will hold consultations in Brussels over the coming days to finalise force packages, mission timelines and command arrangements. Poland’s Article 4 request will frame diplomatic exchanges and may lead to further collective measures, including requests for more permanent air-defence hardware or expanded NATO patrols in the region. Diplomats will also press third parties — notably Belarus — for clearer explanations of air-traffic control and navigational anomalies linked to the incursion, even as Western capitals weigh sanctions and other economic pressures on Moscow. 

The new mission is a reminder of a grim reality: the technical diffusion of weaponry — particularly drones — shortens the fuse on international incidents. Eastern Sentry seeks to turn that challenge into deterrence: by making incursions more costly and less likely to go unnoticed, NATO hopes to restore a measure of predictability to an otherwise volatile theatre. Whether that calculus holds will depend on both military effectiveness and the alliance’s ability to sustain unity under pressure.