Baltic states may renew request for EU funding for anti-drone defence

The Baltic states are likely to renew their request for European Union (EU) funding for anti-drone defence systems, Lithuanian President’s National Security Adviser Deividas Matulionis said on Tuesday.He indicated that the Baltic states could submit a new request during negotiations on the EU’s next multiannual budget for 2028–2034.”We are certainly not giving up, and we will most likely apply for potential funding again later – preferably grants rather than loans,” Matulionis told the news radio station Žinių radijas.As previously reported, Finnish newspaper Iltalehti reported in September that the defence ministers of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania had sent a letter to the European Commission (EC) requesting an urgent allocation of 500 million euros to strengthen their defence capabilities against unmanned aerial vehicles.According to Iltalehti, the Baltic states hoped the EU could allocate additional funding for the region’s anti-drone defence as early as this year.Strengthening protection against drones is considered an urgent priority amid concerns that Russia could attempt to test NATO’s Article 5 collective defence commitment by launching a drone strike against the alliance’s eastern flank.Meanwhile, Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT reported last week that, in response to the request from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, the European Commission had encouraged the Baltic states to use loans available through the EU’s SAFE defence financing instrument.”We have provided a response. Indeed, there are now new opportunities to use additional SAFE funds. We will announce a new call in the near future, as 21 billion euros remained available after the first call,” EU Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius told LRT.He noted that there are few other significant funding opportunities available under the EU budget, as the current budgetary period is approaching its end.LRT reported that funding could also be obtained from the Integrated Border Management Fund, although the amount available would be considerably smaller than the sum requested by the Baltic states.SAFE is a European Commission loan mechanism for defence that will operate until the end of 2030, with a total funding allocation of 150 billion euros.