European nations “agree to build drone wall” to protect borders

Lithuania’s Minister of the Interior, Agnė Bilotaitė, has told the Baltic News Service (BNS) that NATO members in the Baltic region have agreed to create a “drone wall” which would protect against hostile activity and smuggling.

“This is a completely new thing – a drone border from Norway to Poland, the purpose of which would be to protect our borders with the help of drones and other technologies,” Bilotaitė told BNS yesterday. She said the protection could include physical infrastructure, surveillance systems, drones and other technologies that would protect against provocations by “unfriendly countries” as well as prevent contraband.

The minister said drones would allow Lithuania and other countries to monitor the situation from above and build on the intelligence offered by their current surveillance systems. “Another part of the technology would allow us to protect our countries and our borders from drones used by other countries, which aim to spy on our information, carry out provocations, and organise smuggling,” she told the news agency.

Lithuania already has a dedicated drone unit within its State Border Guard Service. Bilotaitė’s comments followed a meeting with interior ministers from Poland, Finland and Norway. Finland’s Interior Minister Mari Rantanen has since confirmed to Finnish news agency Yle that six NATO allies bordering Russia are cooperating to develop the drone-based security system.

NATO membership in the region has increased since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Finland joining the alliance in 2023 and Sweden, which had previously maintained a policy of neutrality, joining in March this year.