The Estonian Air Force, in cooperation with the US Army, tested a new system to protect against drone attacks in Ida-Viru County during the Digital Shield exercise, ERR News reports.
The nearly week-long exercise tested both existing and newly acquired defense systems. All of them have proven themselves in combat situations in Ukraine. The aim of the exercise was to digitally connect drone detection and response systems so that unidentified drones could be detected and shot down using a single command center.
The commander of the Air Surveillance Division, Major Tõnis Pärn, said that the operator spots the drone, identifies it, and by pressing a single button, activates the response system and shoots it down. This means that there is no need for a human presence at the launch device – figuratively speaking, the device for shooting down the drone is in a box on the ground, but the people are in a completely different place, and conceptually they do not even need to be in Estonia. The results are noteworthy, and
within a few weeks to months all these systems will be operational in Estonia.
For the US Army, the exercise is an opportunity to then apply the experience gained in Estonia elsewhere on NATO’s eastern flank, from Finland to Bulgaria. Captain Mica Maule of the US Army’s 10th Air and Missile Defense Command pointed out that the Digital Shield exercise supports two operations – first, NATO’s Eastern Sentry, which is capable of shooting down drones that have entered NATO airspace; second, it forms an eastern flank deterrence initiative designed to counter a massive attack, especially in the air.
The biggest concern for drone defense is the cost of destroying hostile drones, especially when expensive air defense systems are involved. Pärn said that all of the solutions tested in the exercise are significantly cheaper than the “Shaded” type drones, making them cost-effective.
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