The air war: plywood and Styrofoam

“Nato is responding with unity and strength,” said British defence secretary John Healey.

- Gwynne Dyer

“If you've got drones that are putting Polish lives at risk, then Nato will take them out. There’s no firm confirmation on intent, but in the end that’s not the point. It’s still reckless. It’s still dangerous”

“When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout!” as the cynical old military adage puts it. Mr Healey’s contribution to that strong and unified Nato response was to “deploy” half a dozen Typhoon fighters to shoot down any further Russian drones that dare trespass in Polish airspace.

Mind you, those Typhoons will still be based in Lincolnshire, 90 minutes’ flight time from Poland, and they would need midair refuelling to top them up if they had to prolong their mission. Thankfully, Britain has a tanker available for that, and French, German and Danish fighters will also be dedicated to the task. Europeans can sleep easy tonight.

Except that Nato aircraft only shot down four of the nineteen Russian drones that entered Polish airspace on the night of Sept 9-10 — and the Russians also sent a drone over Romania, Ukraine’s Nato neighbour to the southwest, only four days later. Is Moscow planning to attack Nato too?