The Ministry of National Defense of Poland has reported an appearance of an aerial object in Polish airspace. It crossed the border from belarus, the Air Operations Center (Centrum Operacji Powietrznych, henceforth COP) reports.
The assessment by COP states most likely this foreign object is a reconnaissance balloon. It was detected and tracked by radars but then the connection was lost near the city of Rypin, approximately 290 km from the border with belarus. The operational staff commander decided to engage territorial defense forces in searching for this aerostat.
Read more: Poland Admits It Missed a russian Missile That Went 450 km Deep into the Country and Explains the Reasons
In general, this situation can hardly be called critical even though the balloon managed to enter as far as hundreds of kilometers into a NATO country's airspace. However, in the light of the recent disclosure of a russian missile missed by Polish air defense, it gains additional value.
As a reminder, the episode with a russian missile took place more than a half year ago but was concealed, according to the internal investigation by Polish authorities. A russian air-launched missile (journalists claim it was a Kh-55 without a warhead) flew 450 km into Poland and fell in a forest. What's more important, the approach of the missile was known in advance due to a notice from Ukraine, it was seen by radars, and even Polish and American fighters took off for interception.
Polish defense minister Mariusz Błaszczak put the blame on the Operational Commander Tomasz Piotrowski for non-informing the other defense services about a threat approaching.
And it seems like the scandal is straying from the right path because instead of wondering why the missile wasn't shot down when all was ready for it, Polish officials only look for the responsible ones and keep quiet about the type of missile found in the forest near Bydgoszcz.
Against this background, the appearance of an aerostat the next day after the announcement of the results of the investigation all the more highlights that the real problem is yet there to be solved.
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