15 drones circled over Elsenborn military base in Belgium

The ministry said on October 3 that it was currently unclear where the drones came from or who was flying them, but they reportedly flew to Germany after flying over the base.

The incident in Belgium comes amid a wave of drone-related disruptions in European airspace.

In Germany, Munich Airport, one of Europe's largest air hubs, was closed on Friday night due to the detection of unidentified drones, leading to the cancellation of 17 flights and disruption of the travel of almost 3,000 passengers.

Another 15 flights that were due to arrive in Munich overnight were diverted to Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Vienna and Frankfurt airports.

The German Air Traffic Control Service (DFS) restricted flights at Munich Airport from 10:18 p.m. local time on Thursday, and later suspended them altogether due to the detection of drones in the airspace near the airport.

The incident at Munich Airport came after Denmark closed air traffic at several airports three times last week after detecting suspicious drone activity near airports.

The Danish side has not yet released the results of the investigation into the ownership of the offending drones, but the country's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has suggested that Russia may be behind the interference in the operation of Danish airports.