Estonia courting India with eye on strategic tech ties, from robotics to cybersecurity & AI

The Print

3 days ago

The Baltic European nation of 1.3 million people, which is set to increase its defence investment to 5.4 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) by 2026, is moving forward in areas such as unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) and other tools, which could potentially be of interest to the Indian military.
Estonian officials—from defence to foreign affairs ministries—are focusing on building ties with India, drawing on their over 18 years of experience in countering Russian cyber attacks as a model for their engagement with New Delhi.
Tallinn: Estonia is looking to strengthen cooperation with India in a range of strategic technologies, from unmanned vehicles for the Indian armed forces to cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Kaimo Kuusk, Estonia's Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, said cooperating with India is essential due to the 'shared values' between New Delhi and Tallinn such as India's adherence to international law and its democratic traditions.
'We need to cooperate between the countries that share the values. We definitely will not accept any violence. When we are talking about changing the borders, we are not accepting terrorism as a tool. So countries that are clicking all those boxes, yes, we are on the same understanding, should cooperate more together,' Kuusk told ThePrint.
Estonia regained its independence with the fall of the USSR in 1991, and has since joined the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
The country is home to NATO's Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence and has many cybersecurity firms, including CybExer and CR-14, both of which provide cyber ranges for training cybersecurity forces across the world.
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Unmanned ground vehicles & robotics
One area where Estonia has seen considerable growth in recent years is robotics, specifically unmanned ground vehicles.
Estonia's Milrem Robotics, a market leader for light unmanned ground vehicles unveiled THeMIS, its advanced multi-role defence platform a few years ago. The platform has since been deployed by the Ukrainian forces on the frontline and has also attracted interest from the Indian military.
Around 15 THeMIS unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) are currently deployed in Ukraine, which has been defending its territory from Russia for more than 3 years. They are used for casualty evacuation and logistics on the frontlines of Eastern Ukraine.
The platform is currently under trial in around 20 countries. THeMIS, was showcased in India at the Defence Expo 2022 by Bharat Forge Limited (BFL), in partnership with Milrem.
'So, I think they [Indian Army] have seen how they're being used in the battlefields of Ukraine and this has caused them to accelerate their thinking. I think they've always had a longer-term view about adopting unmanned ground vehicles, but that has just been brought forward slightly,' Paul Clayton, the Industrial Partnership Director at Milrem Robotics told ThePrint.
'And I think they're looking at various different sizes and scales of vehicles to be able to link up and be compatible with different elements of the armed forces,' he added. 'We are absolutely clear that if we're going to get into the Indian market, we need a very good Indian partner to be working with. And we would see all of our manufacturing going on in India and that's what we're exploring at the moment, which is exciting.'
Milrem is looking at building its vehicles in India with a local partner, given the potential market—the Indian armed forces—is 'very large', Clayton said.
The firm is also developing several models, which could be of interest to the Indian military, including larger unmanned ground vehicles, weighing 20 tonnes with speeds up to 100 km per hour.
'That's very suited to your mechanised and motorised forces. We've got an 8×8 vehicle, we've got another one which is tracked, which are both in development at the moment and those would fit in very well with your infantry and armoured formations in the future,' said Clayton.
Estonian firms such as 5.0 Robotics are also looking to expand to the Indian market, with their field manufacturing systems that are capable of building or repairing parts needed for military equipment close to the frontlines.
The war between Russia and Ukraine has pushed Estonia's technology sector into building dual-use products, but its small size forces its companies to look abroad for markets.
'[We have] selected 20 priority markets for exports and FDI…and India, of course, is one of them. In each of these 20 countries, we select focus sectors,' Priit Kallakas, Director General of Economic Diplomacy at Estonia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told an Indian media delegation last week.
'In the Indian case, the focus sectors are everything related to ICT. Then there is defence, and also energy and food,' he added.
Cyber security
Estonia is famous for its e-governance systems, as a result of which cybersecurity has become an integral part of its national security strategy.
Around 99 percent of all Estonian government services are available digitally, which has resulted in Tallinn and private companies in Estonia focusing on building adequate security infrastructure.
In April 2007, the Baltic state faced repeated denial-of-service incidents, shutting down its government websites, following its decision to move a Soviet-era war memorial from the centre of Tallinn.
The attacks, which officials have said likely emanated from Moscow, were the first instance of a nation's cyber systems coming under attack by foreign actors.
In recent years, cyber attacks have become common across the globe, with reports of Indian government websites coming under attack during Operation Sindoor earlier this month. Estonia has, for the past 18 years, been building its capacity to mitigate cyber attacks.
In 2023, India's National Security Council and Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) partnered with the private Estonian company CybExer to build a 'cyber range'.
The range was used for five days to simulate consistent attacks against India's cyber infrastructure, and over 1,500 teams participated in the exercise.
'So I would also now, maybe on the bilateral [ties] between Estonia and India, mention a few things. We had a very good historic meeting between our President Karis and Prime Minister Modi that was during this AI Summit in Paris [in February], so very relatable to the topics we just spoke about. And of course, the e-governance, cyber and digital security issues were also talked about in the agenda,' Minna-Liina Lind, the Vice-Minister for Global Affairs in Estonia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the Indian media last week.
The Vice-Minister added: 'And we have already established quite a good bilateral contact on this. I know that my colleague, our Cyber Ambassador [Tanel Sepp], is also often in touch, and also we have these consultations happening both here and in India. And we have three new agreements in the defense industry, since only in the past year, which have been concluded.'
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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