Residents of the village of Volkel are shocked by the drones seen on Friday evening at the nearby military air base. The residents saw it coming, but with everything that is happening in the world, they do not like the idea. “It’s quite scary,” Annet admits.
“I don’t like it,” Ellen responds to the news that ten drones were seen at Volkel air base on Friday evening. A normal Saturday afternoon on the village square suddenly feels very different for her.
“I’m not comfortable with everything that’s happening in the world. You don’t know what’s hanging over our heads,” she says worriedly. “For ourselves, our children and grandchildren, you hope there won’t be a war.”
Why are they concerned?
Annet is also worried about the drones. “It’s getting closer. First drones flew in Belgium and now in our own Volkel. I find it quite scary and intense,” she says. Piet doesn’t like the idea either. “It’s disturbing. You don’t know where they come from. It’s not nice and certainly not above an air base. Amateur or not amateur, I don’t want them above me,” he says.
Harrie’s fear is less on Saturday. “It was already expected that they would come to Volkel. I can’t really worry about it yet, because then you will no longer have a life,” he says. The residents of Volkel do agree on one thing: Defense is allowed to shoot the drones out of the sky.
Is shooting from the sky a good idea?
“I think they can shoot them out of the air. It doesn’t bother me,” says Harrie. “As soon as they can take the drones out of the air, it is important that they gather as much information as possible,” says Piet.
Annet thinks that Defense is acting as necessary. “They won’t do it for nothing,” she says. Outgoing Minister of Defense Ruben Brekelmans from Oisterwijk informed Omroep Brabant that they have intervened and will continue to do so. He does not want to say how they did that, because “possible opponents also know what type of weapons we use in such a situation.” According to a spokesperson for the Royal Military Police, shots were fired.
A spokesperson for the municipality of Maashorst informed Omroep Brabant that they had been informed by the Air Force of the drones at Volkel air base. “Defense has updated us, the police and the Public Prosecution Service,” the spokesperson said. “We are on alert.”