Lithuania presses NATO to fix air defence gap amid Baltic drone incursions
On Tuesday, Defence Minister Kestutis Budrys wrote on X that a Russian military drone had "violated Lithuanian airspace" earlier last week. It was "the second such incident in less than a month."
Last Friday, the Lithuanian army also discovered what it believes to be a Russian aircraft at a military training base, following a similar incident earlier in the week.
Budrys said that he and Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys had sent a letter to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte 'calling for immediate measures to enhance air defence capabilities in Lithuania accelerate the full implementation of the rotational air defence model.'
This request echoes earlier efforts. As Euractiv reported two years ago, the Baltic countries had already been pushing for a rotational model of air defence deployments from NATO allies, rather than occasional or ad hoc support. The renewed plea highlights that, despite heightened European focus on air defence since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, long-standing gaps in the Baltic region remain unaddressed.
Germany, for instance, has sent its Patriot systems to Lithuania. However, Budrys did not specify the timeline requested by Vilnius for setting up a rotation of air systems. Air defence systems are among the most expensive and sophisticated pieces of defence equipment. A single Patriot battery costs around $1 billion, with each missile priced at $4 million. Delivery times are measured in years.
Lithuania is located in the Baltic region and borders both Russia's Kaliningrad exclave and Belarus. In an interview with Euractiv, Andris Sprūds, the defence minister of neighbouring Latvia, said that NATO's policing missions in the Baltics should be extended to include drone surveillance, as well as monitoring aircraft.
Drones have become a key part of modern warfare since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in the winter of 2022.
(de)
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