To defend against Russian aggression Eastern Europe is considering a drone wall.
The project is ambitious and would require unprecedented cooperation from multiple countries to pull off.
Rene Ehasalu, the Cluster Manager for the Estonian Defense Industry Association, told Gizmodo that cooperation is key.
Milrem Robotics' Tracked Hybrid Modular Infantry System (THeMIS) drone vehicles awaiting shipment at the startup’s facility in Tallinn, Estonia, on Monday, March 3, 2025. Estonia hopes to turn its thriving tech sector into a military-industrial complex, and tap into rising European defense spending.© Peter Kollanyi/Bloomberg via Getty Images
We want this to be an international project.
The situation in Europe has changed in the past few years and even the past few months.
We dont see that its getting better and we need to be prepared.
Ehasalu is kind of a diplomat for the Estonian defense industry.
Through the association, he coordinates cooperation between different companies and the government.
Hes been working on getting defense companies across Europe on board with the project.
The border between Eastern Europe and Russia is long and complicated.
It encompasses dense forests, swamps, and snowy mountain terrain.
It runs across multiple countries.
Protecting it from an aggressive neighbor is a difficult problem.
Last year, Estonias Interior Minister Lauri Laanemets proposed a unique solution: build a drone wall.
As a venture of this scale, its unique.
Ehasalu told Gizmodo that Estonia and other countries have watched Russias war in Ukraine with horror.
Moscows use of drones has been of particular concern.
We see that Russians dont care what they are bombing and how they are bombing it, he said.
The drones are here to stay.
Drones are cheap and effective and Russia is planning to build thousands of them.
Mass beats quality, Ehasalu said.
Its not feasible to use millions [of dollars] worth of rockets to take down drones.
You need some clever systems to track them and take them down.
The clever system he and others are proposing is a wall of sensors backed up by unique counter-drone weapons.
All of it would be hooked up to AI to help with target recognition and detection.
Humans can not see everything, can not detect everything.
We get tired and so on.
AI can help us on that side, Ehasalu said.
Then there are different detection layers: acoustic sensors, IR cameras, RF detection, then mobile counter-UAS.
All of those things make up those layers.
Ehasalu said that hes got a few defense companies on board.
One is Rantelon, an Estonian company that built a jammer thatstopped improvised explosive devicesfrom detonating in Iraq.
The plan is to use a similar rig to jam drones.
The system wastested in Ukraine earlier this year.
The wall still has a long way to go before its a reality.
There hasnt yet been an allocation of funds.
But what we see is that Europe is putting a lot of effort into defense, Ehasalu said.
But Ehasalu is confident about the plan and its future.
The EU is planning to spend $870 billion on defense over the next four years.
Germany just voted toexempt defense spendingfrom some of its budget rules.
Experts think the country could spend $652 billion over the next 10 years on defense.
There have been really difficult times..we quite well know the Russians and see through their agenda.
We are always prepared, he said.
Our nation is motivated.
We know there is something on the other side of the border.
We are always ready but we never let the fear take over.
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