Lithuania is moving quickly to develop technology to counter the recent influx of smuggling balloons and unmanned aerial vehicles from Belarus, Economy Vice Minister Paulius Petrauskas said Friday.
Several dozen Lithuanian companies submitted proposals for innovative measures to detect, monitor, identify, and neutralise aerial threats. Petrauskas said the government expects to select the best ideas within a few weeks and develop the technology within six months.
“In two weeks, we will have selected companies and ideas. We will then take additional measures on top of those ideas to help develop the technology,” Petrauskas told LRT RADIO.
He said the Interior Ministry is already working on technical specifications for procurement, which will allow for testing and integration into existing systems. “It may take three months to six months,” he said.
Some submitted systems have already been tested in Ukraine for other purposes but could also be applied in Lithuania, Petrauskas said. Others are novel proposals that, when combined, could lead to effective solutions.
According to Petrauskas, only South Korea and Israel have faced threats comparable to Lithuania’s, making ready-made solutions difficult to obtain. “There are not many other threats or chaos caused by neighbouring countries. Therefore, it is quite difficult to buy solutions – they have to be created from scratch,” he said.
Earlier this month, the ministry received 35 applications with proposals to protect Lithuanian airspace from smuggler balloons and other flying objects that have recently disrupted operations at Vilnius Airport. The companies behind the most promising ideas will share a total of 1 million euros in awards.
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