The European Union has officially launched cutting-edge drone walls along the eastern flank, aiming to protect the region from unprovoked airspace incursions at the hands of Russia.
Ten member states, including Denmark, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Finland, and Slovakia collaborated to roll out this initiative on Friday’s inaugural meeting.
Ukraine was also invited to participate in the EU’s meeting along with NATO which was present as an observer.
"Russia is testing the EU and NATO, and our response must be firm, united and immediate. At today's meeting, we agreed to move from, let's say, discussions to concrete actions," Andrius Kubilius said at a press conference in Finland.
The newly-launched drone wall focuses on detecting and intervening threats from rivals’ airspaces, according to Andrius Kubilius, the European Commissioner for Defence.
"Definitely, we need to look into effective means of how to destroy," he said.
According to Andrius, the drone is the key pillar of a broader “Eastern Flank Watch” along with two other pillars, including ground wall and maritime wall.
"It's both technological concepts which are needed and very soon, but also conceptual background, how such a defence should be organised in the best way," he said.
As per official reports, there is no definite timeline for launching the other two pillars of Eastern Flank Watch. However, all member states eye for collaboration to develop a specific and organized roadmap.