Air defense should be a priority in all three Baltic states - Israeli company

RIGA - Air strikes play a major role in modern armed conflicts, which is why air defense should be a priority in all three Baltic states, Roman Palaria, a Corporate Regional Director at Israeli military technology company Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, told LETA.

Palaria stressed that a robust air defense system is not only critical to ensure the functionality of the armed forces. "It guarantees the resilience of a country because if you look at the conflicts that happen in the world, they are long-lasting. In a protracted conflict, not only the resilience of the armed forces, but also the resilience of the population and the economy is needed," said the representatives of the Israeli company.

He noted that air defense is one of the costliest military expenditures, but because of the aforementioned reasons, it is a justified expenditure.

Palaria also believes that, in order to save costs, it would be better for the Baltic states to develop a common air defense system.

"The Baltic countries are relatively small and there is not enough money in the budget for everything. Yes, the Baltic countries increased defense spending to 3 percent of GDP before NATO decided to do so, but it is still not much because the countries themselves and their budgets are not big. Therefore, cooperation can significantly increase opportunities regarding both armaments and defense," said Palaria.

He noted that two years ago Latvia and Estonia together procured the IRIS-T air defense system, but further work is needed to improve this layer of defense as well as to integrate additional layers and their interactions.

The regional director of Rafael Advanced Defence Systems said that small countries like Israel or the Baltic states can never be militarily self-sufficient. However, there should be a balance and an understanding of what is strategically important for each country and what they need to provide for themselves. Many years of work and resources must be invested in such technologies. For example, Israel's air defense is very famous for its capabilities, but it took decades of work to get to where it is today. Therefore, there must be a plan for the next 10-15 years, and it requires investment, gradually building up capabilities.

As reported, this past June, the Latvian Defense Ministry signed an agreement with Germany's EuroSpike company, co-owned by Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, on the purchase of Spike anti-tank systems, ammunition and other equipment for EUR 81 million.

Rafael Advanced Defence Systems is an Israeli defence technology company that was founded as the Israeli National R&D Defense Laboratory for the development of weapons and military technologies within the Israeli Ministry of Defense, but was transformed into a company in 2002. Rafael Advanced Defence Systems has developed Israel's Iron Dome mobile air defense system and the Spike missile systems.