Interior minister: Focus of drone defense to extend across all of Estonia

TALLINN - The recent attack drone incident in southern Estonia, which ended in an explosion, underscores the need to expand technical capabilities from the eastern border to nationwide drone defense, Interior Minister Igor Taro said after meeting with President Alar Karis.

"Fortunately, the latest drone incident caused no casualties. However, we once again saw that modern and effective drone defense -- both external and internal -- is an urgent task for Estonia's security. This is a costly and personnel-intensive effort. I recall that one of the topics at NATO's last summit was the need to allocate 1.5 percent of GDP to civil defense. Given today's news, do we have any other choice? We do not. This is about the safety and security of the Estonian people," Taro said.

Taro said that Estonia has rapidly developed capabilities in recent months to detect and counter drones crossing its eastern border.

"Russia’s ongoing war of aggression in Ukraine essentially makes the entire Russian territory a battlefield. When it comes to drone defense, we can no longer speak only about the eastern border. This means that establishing an initial, yet effective, technical capability to detect and neutralize drones must consider the need to protect the entire territory of Estonia. This, in turn, immediately raises the need for more well-trained personnel and proper training,"

The interior minister stressed that Estonia's legal framework must also be reviewed quickly.

"The question is who, when, and how will decide to use drone defense, which includes drone destruction. Until now, the airspace has been roughly divided so that drones flying below 300 meters fall under the Police and Border Guard Board and those higher belong to the defense forces. So now, a rapid decision is needed on whether such a division and allocation of responsibility still makes sense. This is a matter of broad-based national defense and smooth domestic cooperation. It also requires exercising different drone incident scenarios with the defense forces to ensure rapid response and to provide safety alerts and guidance to the public," Taro said.