From 4 to 12 July 2026, planned low-altitude drone flights are running over the Latgale border region every day between 10:00 and 20:00. Latvia's Air Force announced this in advance and asked people not to worry. The flights are part of strengthening the eastern border — these are our own, training flights, not someone else's.
For anyone on the ground, that raises a fair question. A drone overhead this week — is it "one of ours" or not? And if it looks wrong, what do you actually do: run, call, film it on your phone? Let's go through it calmly and practically: what makes a civilian flight lawful, why you can barely check that from the ground, which signs are worth watching, and which number to call.
What is in the sky over Latgale right now
The facts are short. From 4 to 12 July, planned low-altitude flights of unmanned aircraft are taking place over the Latgale border region every day from 10:00 to 20:00. The Air Force said so itself, and the news agency LETA confirmed the dates and times. The military is asking for understanding.
The flights are part of the work to fortify the eastern border. The National Armed Forces (NAF) have been reinforcing the border militarily since March 2024, and the defence line itself is a joint project of the Baltic states and Poland, agreed in January 2024. On 25 June, Defence Minister Raivis Melnis said additional air-defence systems would be moved to the border; which ones exactly is being withheld "for operational security".
The background matters too. Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, seven drones have crashed on Latvian territory, and one more was neutralised by NATO fighters. The NAF have stressed there is no reason to assume all of those drones were automatically Ukrainian. One of the spring incidents cost the defence minister his job, and soon after, the whole government resigned. In other words, the sky over Latgale is not an abstraction — the state and its residents both take it seriously.
Why you can barely tell a lawful drone from the ground
Start with the uncomfortable truth: with the naked eye, from below, telling a lawful flight from a violation is almost impossible. And that is fine — you are not the one who has to.
A civilian drone flies lawfully if the operator is registered with CAA Latvia, the pilot has trained and holds the right to fly, the aircraft stays below 120 metres, in direct line of sight, and away from restricted zones and people. These are real requirements, but not one of them reads from the ground. You will not make out the operator's registration number on the shell, an ordinary person's phone will not pick up the Remote ID signal, and altitude is hard to judge by eye.
Add to that how many different people put drones in the air lawfully. Hobbyists film landscapes, businesses inspect fields and power lines, and drones are used on duty by the State Police, the Border Guard, and the NAF themselves. That is exactly why the Ministry of Defence portal sargs.lv says plainly: before you report a "suspicious" drone, assess the situation.
The takeaway is simple. Your job is not to pass a verdict on legality, but to notice what genuinely looks like a threat and pass it to the people who will sort it out. Next: how to tell "just a drone" from "worth reporting".
Signs worth watching
This is not a legal test — it is a way to judge risk. The more points that line up, the stronger the reason to report.
- A drone has come down, or you have found debris. This is the main signal. Treat a downed aircraft and any unfamiliar debris as a possible explosive device — do not approach.
- It is loitering near sensitive sites. The border, military equipment and facilities, critical infrastructure, fuel depots — near any of these, an unknown drone deserves attention.
- It is flying at night near the eastern border. Since 11 September 2025, the airspace over Latvia's eastern border has been closed from 20:00 to 07:00. A drone in that corridor at night is already an anomaly.
- It is clearly filming people or private property up close. That is a matter of your privacy, not only of safety, and you have the right to report it.
- It is large, "plane-shaped", or unusually loud. A consumer quadcopter and a big fixed-wing aircraft are very different things.
And the other side, so you do not jump at every shadow. A small quadcopter over a field in daylight, in the middle of the announced exercise, is most likely either a hobbyist or exactly those "own" flights. The Air Force's "don't worry" is about this. Calm and alert are not opposites here.
Where and how to report
In short: for a threat, 112; for a violation without immediate danger, 110. Here is the split.
Call 112 if the drone threatens safety, or if it has come down or you have found debris. This is the single emergency number. What to do, following sargs.lv and expert advice:
- Give the place and time. Describe what you see.
- Do not approach a downed drone and do not touch it.
- Move to a safe distance and warn anyone nearby.
- Do not publish the exact location on social media.
Call 110 — the free, round-the-clock State Police helpline — if the drone is being used dangerously, is invading your privacy, or is clearly breaking the rules, but there is no immediate danger to life. That is the case where the situation should be logged but does not amount to an emergency.
What is useful to report either way: the time, the place, the direction of flight, a rough altitude, what the aircraft looked like, and whether it dropped anything or landed. Civil drone rules and registration are the job of CAA Latvia (droni.caa.gov.lv) — the place to take questions and complaints about the flight rules themselves, rather than at the moment of an alert.
If you fly in Latgale yourself this week
A separate word for those preparing for the A1/A3 exam or already flying. While the military flights run (4–12 July), the Latgale border area is not the best place to practise. If you do fly:
- Check the geozones in BGKIS and the NOTAMs on the morning of the flight, not the night before.
- Keep your operator registration marking on the airframe, fly below 120 metres, and keep it in line of sight.
- Remember the night closure near the eastern border (20:00–07:00).
- Be visibly "by the book". Residents are primed right now to report unknown drones — and that is a good thing. The more obviously lawful your flight looks, the fewer false alarms it triggers.
How to build pre-flight checks in an uneasy sky is covered in our piece on Rēzekne and what changed for civilian pilots. How to react to cell-broadcast alerts is in the breakdown of the yellow and orange alert levels. Where you cannot fly at all is in the overview of no-fly zones in Latvia. And when a pilot is legally required to report an incident is in the piece on the 72-hour rule.
In short
The Air Force's "don't worry" and sargs.lv's "assess before you report" are about the same thing: a calm, informed resident reports the right things to the right place. You are not obliged to tell a lawful flight from a violation by eye. It is enough to know what makes a drone suspicious, to keep away from a downed aircraft, and to remember two numbers: 112 when there is a threat, 110 when there is a violation.
Airspace limitations and NOTAMs are covered in the lesson on NOTAMs and temporary restrictions, and what to do in non-standard situations in the lesson on emergency procedures. You can test yourself in the operational-procedures practice set.
