Even EUR 500 mln wouldn't secure all of Lithuania's airspace - defense chief

VILNIUS - As Lithuania plans to purchase additional air defense capabilities worth 500 million euros, Chief of Defense Raimundas Vaiksnoras said on Monday that even such spending would not ensure full protection of the country's airspace.

According to the general, achieving such a level of security would require allocating around 10 percent of GDP to defense.

"I want to calm the public a little and temper expectations, because like NATO as a whole, like other countries, we would not be able to provide 100 percent protection today. That is something we have to accept as natural," he told reporters on Monday.

Vaiksnoras confirmed that Lithuania's air defense will be reinforced only in certain border areas and around strategic facilities, while full coverage would require far more resources.

"That would be a completely different scale of funding. Then we would be talking about 10 percent of GDP for defense or similar figures, if that is the expectation. That is why managing expectations is very important. Protection will be provided in certain places, but let's not forget that we also have strategic facilities, and major attention will go to them, not just the border," he said.

The general's comments came after NATO's eastern flank countries reported several dozen Russian drone incursions recently and as Lithuania prepares to invest 500 million euros in new air defense capabilities over the coming years.

"It would be too bold to say we could cover everything. That's not the kind of money we are talking about. To cover the whole of Lithuania's airspace completely would cost billions, tens of billions," he said.

The chief of defense added that the capabilities Lithuania intends to purchase should be mobile, so they could be moved from one location to another "depending on threats, on needs, on detection."

"The result would be that we could identify low-flying objects and neutralize them," he said.

"The launch of Eastern Sentry will be one of the short-term measures, until countries build up a sufficient number of systems, to help each other both with detection and with neutralization of flying objects and other incursions into airspace," the general said.

"We expect Germany's support specifically in Lithuania. This has been discussed with their chief of defense. A force generation process is under way to ensure a systematic approach to solving the problem," he added.

Air defense became a pressing issue this summer after two Russian Gerbera drones entered Lithuanian airspace, one of them carrying explosives.

In September, around 20 Russian drones violated Polish airspace.

Following the incident, NATO announced it would reinforce its eastern flank to help counter Moscow's threat and launched Operation Eastern Sentry.

Last week, Turkey deployed a modern AWACS surveillance aircraft to Lithuania, and Sakaliene said additional resources would arrive in the coming months.

The defense minister said that contracts for several types of radars, additional acoustic sensors and anti-drone systems are expected to be signed in the coming weeks. Her predecessor, opposition conservative leader Laurynas Kasciunas, has repeatedly criticized her for the lack of such contracts.

In addition, after recent legislative amendments, the armed forces can now neutralize drones threatening Lithuania's airspace more quickly and with fewer restrictions.