MEP calls for urgent action after drone crashes in Estonia

TALLINN - Estonian MEP Riho Terras said that the crash of an attack drone on Estonian territory requires an immediate response, not talk of future improvements in surveillance and countermeasure capabilities.

"Today we learned that an attack drone went down in Estonia over the weekend, and Estonian authorities only found out about it thanks to the smart actions of a farmer who discovered the drone's debris. Clearly, such a gap in Estonia's surveillance and detection capabilities is worrying -- especially since the location of the debris is tens of kilometers from the Estonian border, meaning the drone traveled a long distance in our airspace without being detected," Terras said.

The MEP said that it is not sufficient to hear ministers say at Tuesday's press conference that contracts for detecting objects flying at low altitudes are already signed and plans are in progress. Terras said it is necessary to immediately convene a table-top exercise and clearly define coordination and responsibilities -- whether to assign the airspace up to 300 meters high to the defense forces for monitoring or to empower the border guard to operate there with appropriate countermeasures.

The drone falling on Estonian territory was only a matter of time, yet our government was still unprepared for it, according to Terras.

"We have not established coordination and responsibilities, nor invested in a drone barrier, but have only talked about it. We also have not directed additional resources toward innovation to create a real and reasonably priced drone defense capability in Estonia," he added.

Terras stressed that drones approaching Estonia must be detectable in order to be neutralized.

"Now we know that Estonia currently cannot do this. When will this capability be in place?" Terras asked.

A local farmer found pieces of a Ukrainian attack drone on Monday afternoon in the Elva municipality, Tartu County, and an explosion crater was also identified at the site. The Internal Security Service (ISS) said that the drone likely went down in Estonian territory early Sunday morning around 4-5 a.m.