"Drone wall" along border: NATO looking for ways to strengthen defense of eastern flank
NATO and European Union countries are discussing urgent measures to strengthen defenses against drones along the Alliance’s eastern flank. This comes amid increasingly frequent drone incidents near the borders with russia and Belarus.
Politico reports this, citing its own sources.
According to the publication, the Baltic states, Poland, Romania, and Finland are expressing the greatest concern. They believe that the threat posed by the use of drones continues to grow.
In recent months, the region has repeatedly recorded the appearance of unidentified drones, as well as cases of violations of the airspace of NATO member states. In particular, the latest incident involving a russian drone in Romania has sparked renewed discussions.
In response, the allies are considering the accelerated deployment of radars, surveillance systems, electronic warfare capabilities, and other technologies designed to detect and intercept drones. Additionally, enhanced coordination between NATO and EU countries is being discussed.
One idea is to create a so-called “drone wall” along the eastern border of the European Union and NATO. The initiative involves using a network of sensors, monitoring systems, and unmanned platforms to continuously monitor border areas.
At the same time, there is not yet full consensus among European states on the implementation of such plans. Some countries advocate for the swiftest possible implementation of additional security measures, while others point to the high cost of the projects, technical difficulties, and the risk of duplicating functions already performed by NATO.
Previously, leaders of the Alliance’s eastern flank countries have repeatedly called for strengthening air and missile defense systems amid regular airspace violations by russian drones.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that russia is capable of attacking one of the NATO countries in the short term.