EU ministers to ponder what a ‘drone wall’ for Europe could look like

BERLIN ​​— European defense ministers will convene next week and discuss specifics of a planned “drone wall” meant to protect the continent from incursions of its airspace coming from Russia, Reuters reported on Thursday.

The initiative gained a sense of urgency following the violation of Polish airspace by Russian strike drones last week, which left at least one house damaged.

“We want really to move ahead with very, very intensive and effective preparations to start to fill this gap, which is really very dangerous for us... as quickly as we can do it,” EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius, who is Lithuanian, told Reuters .

Kubilius has been a public supporter of a drone wall for longer than the EU leadership has been outwardly enthusiastic about the project, and he will convene next week’s meeting.

The concept of a “drone wall” along Europe’s eastern border originated with Lithuania in May 2023, when then-Lithuanian Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė first proposed the initiative as part of a broader effort to enhance border surveillance and defense across NATO’s eastern flank. By May 2024, six NATO countries, including the three Baltic states, plus Poland, Norway and Finland, had agreed to cooperate on the project.

A joint Estonian-Lithuanian proposal was denied EU funding in the spring of this year. The mood in Brussels shifted entirely, however, after around 20 drones entered Polish airspace on the night of September 10. Speaking that day in her landmark State of the Union address, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged that the Union would establish a drone wall to protect its 27 member states from UAVs in the future.

Kubilius also indicated that Ukrainian know-how and technology might play a role. Previously, von der Leyen had also used her speech on Sept. 10 to announce a drone partnership worth €6 billion ($7 billion) with Ukraine, intended to bring the continent up to speed in this crucial dimension of modern warfare.

“They’re keen to share their experience and know-how,” Kubilius was quoted as saying.

While details remain scarce on what exactly a so-called drone wall will consist of, how it will work and what it will cost, the defense commissioner said he envisioned a series of sensors, jamming systems and weapons to detect and combat incoming unmanned aerial vehicles.

Setting it up could take as little as a year, Kubilius said, citing public estimates, though he cautioned that it was still too early to make a good estimate.

Although the invasion of Polish airspace was the most egregious, there have been other cases when EU territory was breached by Russian aircraft since the war in Ukraine began. Just three days later, Russian drones were reportedly tracked overflying Romania on their way to attack a remote part of Ukraine.

Linus Höller is Defense News' Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.

柏林——路透社周四报道，欧洲国防部长将于下周召开会议，讨论一项旨在保护欧洲大陆免受俄罗斯侵犯其领空的“无人机墙”计划的具体细节。

上周俄罗斯无人机侵犯波兰领空，造成至少一栋房屋受损，这使得该倡议更具紧迫性。

“我们真的希望尽快推进非常、非常密集和有效的准备工作，以填补这个对我们来说非常危险的缺口……尽快行动起来，”欧盟国防专员、立陶宛人安德留斯·库比留斯告诉路透社。

库比留斯公开支持无人机墙的时间比欧盟领导层对该项目表现出的热情要长得多，他将召集下周的会议。

“无人机墙”的概念起源于立陶宛，于2023年5月提出。当时，立陶宛内政部长阿格涅·比洛泰特首次提出这项倡议，作为加强北约东翼边境监控和防御的更广泛努力的一部分。到2024年5月，包括波罗的海三国在内的六个北约成员国，以及波兰、挪威和芬兰，都同意就该项目展开合作。

今年春天，爱沙尼亚和立陶宛联合提出的方案被欧盟拒绝资助。然而，9月10日晚约20架无人机闯入波兰领空后，布鲁塞尔的气氛发生了彻底转变。当天，欧盟委员会主席乌尔苏拉·冯德莱恩在具有里程碑意义的国情咨文中承诺，欧盟将建立一道无人机屏障，以保护其27个成员国未来免受无人机的威胁。

库比柳斯还表示，乌克兰的专业知识和技术可能会发挥作用。此前，冯德莱恩也曾在9月10日的讲话中宣布与乌克兰达成一项价值60亿欧元（70亿美元）的无人机合作协议，旨在提升欧洲大陆在现代战争这一关键领域的水平。

库比留斯表示：“他们渴望分享他们的经验和专业知识。”

虽然关于所谓的无人机墙究竟由什么构成、如何运作以及成本是多少等细节仍然很少，但国防部长表示，他设想了一系列传感器、干扰系统和武器，用于探测和对抗来袭的无人机。

库比留斯援引公开估计称，建立该系统可能只需一年时间，但他同时提醒说，现在做出准确的估计还为时过早。

尽管侵犯波兰领空的事件最为恶劣，但自乌克兰战争爆发以来，俄罗斯飞机侵犯欧盟领土的事件还屡见不鲜。仅仅三天后，据报道，俄罗斯无人机被追踪到飞越罗马尼亚上空，准备袭击乌克兰偏远地区。

林努斯·霍勒是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者和开源情报调查员。他报道影响欧洲乃至全球的军火交易、制裁和地缘政治。他拥有大规模杀伤性武器不扩散、恐怖主义研究和国际关系三个硕士学位，并精通英语、德语、俄语和西班牙语四种语言。