“Are we going to shoot down every drone with fighter jets from now on? If that’s the case, then it’s over – we’re in serious trouble,” MEP Ivars Ijabs, deputy chairman of the board of the For Latvia’s Development party, said on TV24 programme Runāsim atklāti! (“Let’s Speak Openly!”).
Speaking about Latvia’s security and defence, one of the current issues is tunnels dug by migrants. According to independent MP of the 14th Saeima and reserve colonel of the National Armed Forces (NBS) Igors Rajevs, the tunnels being discovered along the border are a new phenomenon in Latvia, although they are nothing new or surprising in other countries.
“Poland had such tunnels two or three years ago,” he said. “The Border Guard is working there and monitoring the situation, and let’s be honest – it wasn’t Minister Dombrava who found that tunnel! These things cannot be handled as one-off campaigns; there must be systematic action. It is clear that the new government wants to demonstrate results quickly, which explains all this activity.”
To safeguard national security, MP of the 14th Saeima, former Defence Minister and candidate in the 15th Saeima elections Andris Sprūds (PRO) stresses that many measures have already been implemented,
including the construction of a border fence, although, as he himself acknowledges,
“the fence is not a panacea – what matters most is how institutions coordinate with one another.”
“One of the important solutions that must be implemented as quickly as possible – and which was started but has nevertheless encountered some difficulties – is the installation of sensors so that we are technologically capable of responding when a border violation occurs.”
Asked by the programme host whether there is really as long a waiting list for procuring sensors as there is for air defence systems, Sprūds replied that the issue involves more than sensors alone.
“We are talking about 450 kilometres. Obviously, cables also have to be installed. Yes, years have passed, but first the fence had to be built. I think the previous government faced problems, and this government and the next one will face them as well for as long as the pressure continues. There will be no single silver bullet that solves everything.”
Continuing the discussion on security, the participants turned to the issue of drones. Sprūds and Rajevs said that although Latvia has interceptor drones, drones are currently being shot down only by NATO fighter jets.
“All drones that have been shot down so far were taken down by NATO fighter jets, not by counter-drone systems,”
Rajevs explained.
Ijabs expressed concern about this approach: “Is the idea really that from now on we are basically going to shoot down every drone with fighter jets? If that’s the case, then it’s over – we’re in serious trouble.”
Meanwhile, Jānis Urbanovičs, chairman of the board of the Harmony party and a candidate in the 15th Saeima elections, recalled events in Rēzekne in May this year, when a drone crashed.
“Those drones were flying there and – bang! – they fell. First one came down, then another, but we were told there was only one. Fine, we can’t shoot them all down, but perhaps we could at least detect them?”
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