Six member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are reportedly building an anti-drone wall along their shared borders with Russia.
The National Pulse named the countries as Norway, Finland, Poland and the three Baltic states – Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite defended the anti-drone barrier as necessary to protect against "unfriendly countries" with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
"This is a completely new thing – a drone border from Norway to Poland, the purpose of which would be to protect our border with the help of drones and other technologies," she told domestic news agency BNS. Bilotaite added that the anti-drone "wall" will also employ counter-drone technology, and will add to Vilnius' existing physical barriers and surveillance systems not only to protect Lithuania "from provocations by unfriendly countries," but also to "prevent contraband."
The Lithuanian official added that the country's State Border Guard Service has a new drone unit. According to the LRT news agency, the border force is currently building up stocks of drones and counter-drone systems.
Estonian Interior Minister Lauri Laanemets meanwhile said the anti-UAV technology will detect and repel hostile drones from Russia. Tallinn plans to install the barrier along its entire eastern border and around major cities.
"As a venture of this scale, it's unique. Drone surveillance and anti-drone capability is crucial both for deterrence and for countering the influence of our eastern neighbor," said Laanemets.
"As we can see on the Ukrainian front, there is a constant technological race between adversaries and new ways to use drones in warfare. The same is true for the various drones that people have access to. Being even a small step ahead of the opponent leads to greater success, but this success can be measured in days – as countermeasures ahead are discovered with alarming speed for each measure, and the cycle continues."
Poland takes it a step further
While Poland is also building its drone wall, the Pulse added that Warsaw has taken this a step further. The country has begun construction on a line of fortifications along its border with Belarus – a close ally of Russia – and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad (formerly Konigsberg). Dubbed the East Shield or Tusk Line (after Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk), it will include hundreds of miles of anti-tank traps, ditches and minefields.
Like Ukraine, the Baltic states are all former territories of the Soviet Union that gained their freedom after the latter's dissolution in 1991. Two of the three Baltic states – Estonia and Latvia – are also home to large Russian minorities. Given the small size and populations of under two million, both Vilnius and Tallinn are vulnerable to any military action by Moscow.
According to Newsweek, the three Baltic states believe that Russia under current President Vladimir Putin poses a threat to NATO and the countries closest to Russia's borders. It added that the "special military operation" that commenced in February 2022 "has largely boosted NATO unit against Moscow, pushing previously neutral Finland and Sweden to join the alliance."
"More than two years of war in Ukraine has spurred on lightning-fast innovations in airborne, land-based and waterborne drones," Newsweek continued. "Uncrewed technology fills the skies above Ukraine, with Moscow and Kyiv battling it out to stay ahead of the other."
According to the magazine, "drones cover nearly every aspect of the fighting in Ukraine – from helping out with reconnaissance to launching kamikaze drone strikes and guiding artillery fire." But the Pulse noted that expensive U.S.-made drones have struggled to make an impact in the frontlines due to their susceptibility to Russian jamming. Ukrainian forces have thus resorted to cheaper, off-the-shelf Chinese drones due to their greater reliability. (Related: Ukraine now buying CHINESE DRONES because the American-made versions are unreliable.)
Check out DroneWatchNews.com for more stories about the use of drones in the Russia-Ukraine war.
Watch this clip of Ukrainian drones using flamethrowers on Russian ships in the Black Sea.
This video is from the High Hopes channel on Brighteon.com.
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