Minister of National Defence Dovilė Šakalienė had a distance meeting with European Commissioner Andrius Kubilius, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas, and seven Ministers of Defence of the region. Their discussion centered on the Eastern Flank Watch proposed by President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen which is intended to strengthen the Ground Wall and build a multilayered Drone Wall.
The initiative is built on the principle of an integrated “system of systems” in which national means need to functions not as a fragment but as a piece of a coordinated network agreed with NATO. The Minister underscored at the meeting that quick EU-level financial instruments were necessary for the project and national loans were not a good solution in guarding the mutual border, subsidies were necessary.
“In the short-term, part of the funds could be provided via the European Defence Industrial Programme (EDIP), however, the scope of it is too small even for one country. The whole of EDIP amounts to EUR 1.5 billion while Lithuania’s initial request amounts to at least EUR 1.6 billion: EUR 1.1 billion for land border and EUR 0.5 billion for the currently identified initial request for the Drone Wall. In the long-term, on the other hand, there must be a separate funding instrument in the new EU Multiannual Financial Framework as of 2028,” said Minister of National Defence D. Šakalienė.
Minister stressed that Lithuania was quickly moving ahead with the national-level border defence system. The Ministry of National Defence collaborates with the Ministries of Communications, Agriculture, and Environment in further implementing the countermobility measures, while the Lithuanian Armed Forces was developing engineer part of the mining capability. According to D. Šakalienė, Lithuania was adjusting to the defence plan requirements and transitioning to systemic obstacle positioning in three echelons along the border instead of separate means individually applied.
D. Šakalienė also noted that it was important to learn from Ukraine’s experience – battle-tested doctrines, technologies and training methods – as well as too ensure a close partnership between the European and the Ukrainian industries. The regional cooperation between the Baltic states and Poland was gathering pace and should be put to work to the benefit of joint projects in the context of the Baltic Defence Line and the East Shield.
“Our initial concept for strengthening air defence aligns with the system presented by Ukraine, we are just in the early stages of developing this capability. We have introduced our plans and discussed further cooperation with Ukraine in building the anti-drone capability,” Minister added.
D. Šakalienė also informed the participants of the meeting that the Drone Wall concept will be presented to the State Defence Council Monday. In the initial stage, the implementation is planned to begin by purchasing short-range radars, electronic warfare means, passive radars, equipment for mobile UAV-hunting teams, means for guarding military infrastructure, etc. Later a reinforcement of better tracking systems and cost-effective kinetic and non-kinetic seffectors is planned to be added.
