Berlin deploys fighter jets to Poland after Russian drone incursions

BERLIN, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Germany has deployed five Eurofighter jets and some 150 military personnel to the Polish town of Malbork to help secure the country's airspace, the German air force said on Thursday, in response to Russian drone incursions in September.

Polish F-16 fighter jets, Dutch F-35s, Italian AWACS surveillance planes and NATO mid-air refuelling aircraft scrambled in an operation to shoot down drones entering Polish airspace in mid-September.

It was the first time a member of the Western military alliance is known to have fired shots during Russia's war in Ukraine.

Moscow denied responsibility for the incident.

The German Eurofighters are operating as part of NATO's Eastern Sentry mission and will remain stationed in Malbork, some 60 kilometres from Gdansk and 80 kilometres from the heavily armed Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, until March 2026, according to the Luftwaffe.

"With this mission, we are sending another strong message of support for our neighbour Poland and NATO in total," German Air Chief Holger Neumann said.

Germany has also dispatched Eurofighter jets to Romania as part of NATO's efforts to bolster the alliance's eastern flank amid rising tensions with Russia.

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold, Editing by Miranda Murray)