Lithuania defence minister rejects EU criticism on air defence strategy

VILNIUS - Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas rejected criticism from European Union Defence and Space Commissioner Andrius Kubilius that Lithuania lacks a clear strategy to strengthen its air defences.

"Our air defence strategy is very clear and is being coordinated specifically with the Ukrainian side to ensure it is effective," Kaunas told reporters on Monday.

Kubilius had earlier noted that Estonia is developing and Latvia has already begun implementing acoustic detector systems. In response, Kaunas said the Ministry of the Interior is currently handling the matter.

"We (...) would like to integrate into their systems, which means adding our own anti-drone solutions and drone surveillance. This is a joint effort," the minister said.

"Estonia's current solutions are a product of the Estonian manufacturing industry that they will be testing. We will see how well it works and what it can detect. (...) I was in Singapore a couple of days ago, and we have invited Singaporean defence industry solutions to be deployed on our border so we can evaluate how their system performs here," Kaunas said.

In recent months, potential airspace violations involving drones have been recorded in Lithuania, the other Baltic states and Finland.