Belgium Deploys Blaze Interceptors and Bolt Munitions to Counter Rising Drone Threat.

Belgium is rapidly deploying interceptor and strike drones to close urgent gaps in its counter-drone defenses following unexplained UAV incursions over airports and military sites. The move highlights how even NATO militaries are racing to adapt battlefield-proven drone tactics into peacetime force protection and ground combat units.

Information shared by Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken on X indicates that, in late December 2025, Belgium began rolling out a fast-track counter-drone package combining new detection and electronic disruption tools with Latvia’s Blaze interceptor drones, while also moving to introduce Bolt Loitering Munitions as a precision strike capability for ground units, with immediate response kits scheduled for deployment at every Belgian military base from early January. The initiative follows a series of unexplained drone incidents over airports and sensitive military sites, highlighting how limited Belgium’s short-range air defense and counter-UAS posture had become under peacetime assumptions.
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Blaze is a rapid-deploy interceptor that uses AI-assisted targeting and an airburst warhead to knock down hostile drones, while Bolt delivers platoon-level, man-portable precision strike with day-night sensors and autonomous loitering (Picture source: Anduril/Origin).

That emergency sprint is now visibly converging with a second, more offensive line of effort: giving ground units their own precision find-and-finish drone capability. Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken highlighted both themes at Defense’s New Year reception, where the procurement leadership showcased Anduril’s Bolt loitering munition alongside the Blaze interceptor. For Blaze, the procurement pathway is clearer: Belgium signed for the system in mid-November as part of a €50 million anti-drone package, and the minister said the capability would start strengthening defenses within a couple of weeks, even as unit counts and the exact split of funding remain undisclosed.

Bolt-M sits in the same operational niche that Ukraine’s battlefield has made unavoidable: man-packable precision firepower for small units, without the training burden of first-person-view piloting. The system is a vertical takeoff quadcopter in the 12 to 15 lb class, assembled in under five minutes, carrying an electro-optical and infrared payload for day-night target work, and rated for roughly 40 minutes endurance with a maximum range of around 12 to 12.5 miles, or about 20 km. Its munition payload can reach about three pounds, and available reporting indicates warheads can be swapped and fused or de-fused in the field, enabling quick tailoring between anti-personnel and anti-materiel effects.

What matters tactically is the autonomy stack wrapped around those basics. Bolt-M is designed to fly waypoint routes, hold a loiter box, and track objects in a target-agnostic way while operators set standoff distance and attack geometry. In practical Belgian Army terms, this is a platoon-level eyes-to-effects bridge: a dismounted element can confirm a trench line, treeline firing point, or light vehicle, then prosecute it without exposing a Javelin team, waiting for mortars, or escalating to scarce higher-echelon fires. It is also a deterrent amplifier for Belgium’s NATO commitments, because it gives small formations a credible, organic strike option that can travel with them, rather than a capability parked at a base.

Blaze addresses the mirror problem: how to stop the cheap drones and loitering munitions that now probe airfields, depots, and command posts daily. Origin Robotics describes Blaze as a man-portable interceptor combining radar-based detection cues with AI-driven computer vision and an EO and IR suite for lock-on, with an operator-confirmed engagement step. Its defeat mechanism is airburst fragmentation, and it incorporates wave-off and self-destruct safety logic, including geofencing and loss-of-link behaviors. The system is built around rapid, repeatable use: tool-less setup with flight-ready status in under 10 minutes, the first launch in under five minutes, and follow-on launches in under a minute.

The capability gain for Belgium is not just two new drones, but a layered, fast-fielded architecture. Blaze gives commanders a kinetic last meter option when jamming is insufficient or legally constrained, while Bolt-M pushes precision strike down to the tactical edge. The unresolved variables are procurement transparency and scale. Belgium has publicly anchored Blaze inside the €50 million urgent package and signaled a larger €500 million integrated counter-drone effort, but has not published quantities, timelines beyond early 2026 fielding, or contract values for Bolt.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.