Lithuania plans to spend €500 million on additional air defence systems in the coming years, but the head of the military warned Monday that even these upgrades would not guarantee 100% protection of the country’s airspace.
“Like all NATO countries, we cannot ensure 100% [airspace security] at this time,” Armed Forces Commander Raimundas Vaikšnoras said.
Full coverage would require much higher spending – possibly 10% of GDP on defence, he added.
Vaikšnoras confirmed that the planned enhancements will focus on specific border areas and strategic sites. Broader airspace protection, he said, would require billions of euros. “Expectation management is very important,” he said. “Attention will be given to strategic objects, not just the borders.”
The comments come amid a string of incidents in which Russian drones violated the airspace of NATO’s eastern flank, including two Gerbera drones that entered Lithuania this summer, one of which carried explosives. Poland reported similar incursions in September, when about 20 Russian drones entered its airspace.
Lithuania’s planned defence systems are expected to be mobile, allowing the military to reposition them in response to threats and detections. “The effect would be that we could identify low-flying objects and neutralise them,” Vaikšnoras said.
NATO does not yet have a unified solution to detect and neutralise drones violating member states’ airspace. The alliance recently launched the “Eastern Sentry” operation to help countries share detection and neutralisation capabilities until national systems are in place.
“We hope for support from Germany specifically in Lithuania,” Vaikšnoras said. “The force generation process is ongoing to ensure a systematic approach to the problem.”
Defence Minister Dovilė Šakalienė said Turkey recently deployed an AWACS surveillance aircraft to Lithuania and that other resources will arrive in the coming months. Contracts for multiple types of radars, additional acoustic sensors, and anti-drone systems are expected to be signed in the next few weeks.
Legislative changes passed by the parliament, Seimas, will allow the military to more quickly and efficiently neutralise drones posing threats to Lithuanian airspace.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
