EU vows haste in ‘drone wall’ plan for eastern borders

BERLIN — The European Union has jump-started the development of a so-called “drone wall” to protect European skies against incursions by unmanned aerial vehicles from Russia, alongside a broader set of measures designed to protect the eastern flank of the continent.

The package of proposed measures will be called Eastern Flank Watch and was announced by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a landmark speech earlier this month.

Details emerged on Friday, with the EU commissioner for defence and space, Andrius Kubilius, announcing that the drone wall would be an “immediate priority” that will include “advanced detection, tracking, and interception capabilities.” He also said it would be one of the pillars of the EU’s broader Eastern Flank Watch project.

Kubilius offered his remarks following a high-level meeting with nine European defense ministers. The countries represented were dubbed “EU frontline countries” by Kubilius, with all of those present either sharing a border with Russia, Black Sea coastline, or a land connection to Ukraine.

“We agreed on the most important point: The Eastern Flank Watch, with the ‘Drone Wall’ as its core, will serve all of Europe,” Kubilius said in a press release on Friday. The meeting had moved the project “from discussions to concrete actions,” he said in a press conference in Finland later that day.

Beyond the drone wall, the EU will also coordinate to strengthen physical ground defenses, such as anti-mobility systems.

The Baltic States Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are already cooperating on a project dubbed the Baltic Defense Line, which will see a series of anti-vehicle ditches, anti-tank barriers, fences and quick-lock gates constructed along their long border with Russia.

It was the Baltic states that first proposed the idea of a drone wall, prompting an initially lukewarm reaction from Brussels. A bid for EU funding for the project was rejected earlier this year.

The mood changed following the incursion of about twenty Russian combat drones into Polish airspace in September, just a day before von der Leyen’s State of the Union speech. She used the speech to throw the weight of the Commission, the EU’s executive body, behind the bloc’s drone wall plan.

Since then, there have been sightings in several European countries of unidentified drones near airports and military bases. Russian military aircraft have additionally tested European air forces’ reactions.

Kubilius, who is Lithuanian himself, has been an outspoken proponent of tougher defense measures, including a drone wall, aimed at deterring Russia.

In addition to the Drone Wall and land fortifications, the Eastern Flank Watch is set to include “maritime security” in the Black and Baltic Seas, as well as a space-based surveillance component for situational awareness, Kubilius said on Friday.

Next on the agenda for the defense commissioner and his allies will be drumming up support ahead of the October European Council meeting, which will mark a critical point for EU countries to express their stance on the project. Then, a detailed technical roadmap will be developed together with national experts, a “comprehensive EU financial toolbox” deployed, and the European defense industry mobilized, Kubilius promised.

Work on drone-related matters will, in all likelihood, take place with the support of Ukraine, as the EU has worked to position itself to benefit from Kyiv’s expertise in a field that it has worked to master since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

The EU announced a drone partnership worth €6 billion ($7 billion) with Ukraine earlier this month, and Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal shared “invaluable, battle-tested expertise” on the sidelines of Friday’s meeting, Kubilius said.

Meanwhile, companies offering counter-drone technology have begun jockeying for position for the envisioned EU project.

Estonian firm DefSecIntel Solutions, one of the contractors in the Baltic Drone Wall, announced a partnership with Origin Robotics of Latvia last week with an eye on the EU-level wall variant. DefSecIntel makes non-kinetic equipment like detection sensors and jammers, while Origin offers an autonomous drone interceptor.

EU vows haste in ‘drone wall’ plan for eastern borders

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