The Austrian air force had to scramble Eurofighters twice in 48 hours against American aircraft that illegally entered the country's neutral airspace. According to Vienna's official statements, this concerns specialised reconnaissance aircraft PC-12/U-28A Draco, used by US Special Operations Command (SOCOM).

Austrian air traffic controllers flagged the aircraft as „bold incursion" - an official technical term rarely used in diplomatic vocabulary. They responded with urgent Eurofighters that established visual contact with the American aircraft. When the Austrian pilots closed to the required distance, the American pilots executed a sharp turn and exited Austrian airspace. No explanation, no prior notice.

The U-28A Draco is not an ordinary aircraft. It's an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platform, equipped with advanced sensors for intercepting communications and long-range thermal cameras. In other words - an airborne spy. When such a device enters foreign airspace without permission, and into a neutral state at that, it's not a planning error.

Analysts in Vienna are speculating about two possibilities. First - that the aircraft were in transit between US bases in Germany and Italy and decided to „shortcut" through Alpine airspace without official notice. Second - they were in equipment-testing mode in mountainous terrain, and Austria was „practically a more convenient range".

The Austrian government will send an official protest note to Washington. Knowing the American style of responding to such notes, the protocol reply is likely to be „inadvertent navigation error" - a formulation Washington knows by heart.

For the Balkans this is an instructive picture. Austria is a neutral state with clear legal status. Even toward it, the US behaves with a level of discretion reminiscent of the Cold War. Imagine what would happen if the same kind of aircraft flew into Macedonia without notice - we'd have a media wave, accusations across the whole political scene, and possibly a special session of parliament. Austria handled it with an official note, a coffee and silence.