Lithuania and Europe need to build a drone army to defend against Russia, Lithuania’s European Defence and Space Commissioner Andrius Kubilius told Sky News on Thursday.
"Russia can have around five million drones, so we need to have capacities bigger than those in order to prevail," he said, adding that Russia now had a “battle-tested” army.
This would mean Lithuania needs three million drones to defend its border of 900 kilometres with Russia and Belarus, he said, giving an estimate based on Ukraine’s experience of fighting against Russia.
"If Ukrainians need four million for 1,200 kilometres, we need something like three million drones for one year if the war is starting, if 'Day X' is coming," Kubilius said, adding that nothing can move in the combat zone without being attacked by drones.
"A traditional tank in that zone survives six minutes," he added.
Europe should therefore ramp up its industry and prepare pilots, instead of stockpiling drones that may be outdated in the near future, according to the commissioner.
Lithuania’s armed forces have recently launched programmes to integrate drone operators into its units, with several domestic companies playing a lead role in adopting the technology.
Vilnius has also committed to buying several dozen German Leopard 2 tanks, which sparked debates within the country’s defence community about whether the expensive purchases were needed.
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