Latvia will host an international “drone summit” in the beginning of 2025, Defence Minister Andris Spruds announced, LSM reports. He said that the summit would promote the creation of secure supply chains for drone components and the production of drone systems in NATO member states. The cooperation was aimed at ensuring targeted deliveries of unmanned…
Ukraine should have the right to strike Russian air bases to “eliminate the sources of attacks and save lives,” Estonia’s Defence Minister, Hanno Pevkur, stated, ERR reports. He pointed to Russia’s continued attacks on residential buildings and critical infrastructure. Ukraine knows where the strikes are coming from, Pevkur noted. He reiterated Estonia’s position that the…
The General Jonas Zemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania (LKA) has opened an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) competence centre, Militarnyi reports. Defence Minister Laurynas Kasciunas said that the drone competence centre would teach how to fly drones and gain both theoretical and practical knowledge. LKA will organise both stationary courses in Vilnius and field courses in…
Lithuania will sign an agreement with Germany on the stationing of a German brigade in the country on 13 September 2024, Lithuanian Defence Minister Laurynas Kasciunas announced, dpa reports, citing BNS. The agreement will regulate the use of military bases and the arrival, movement, and departure of German troops in Lithuania. Also, the agreement will…
Lithuania’s Economy Minister, Ausrine Armonaite, rejected the idea of introducing new taxes to fund increased defence spending, BNS reports. Speaking in an interview with Ziniu Radijas, Armonaite insisted that additional money for defence should come from borrowed funds or through economic growth instead. Also, the government should use unused funds of state institutions, she said….
Russia may have used GPS jamming against a US reconnaissance drone in Estonian airspace, Postimees reports. The Estonian Defence Ministry confirmed that the US Air Force’s Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk drone had experienced communication problems. The drone landed undamaged, however. A spokesman for the Estonian Air Force noted that Russian radio interference disturbs all…
Lithuania plans to allocate more than 3% of its GDP to defence, President Gitanas Nauseda announced, BNS reports. Speaking during a joint press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw, Nauseda said that Lithuania would follow Poland’s example of raising defence spending. Also, he said that the two countries would soon begin training Ukrainian…
Raising Estonia’s defence spending to 5% of GDP would be unfeasible, Finance Minister Jürgen Ligi stated, ERR reports. Earlier, Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur suggested that NATO’s new defence plans meant that Estonia would have to raise its defence budget from the current 3% of GDP to somewhere less than 5% over a period of 20…
The Latvian government may impose a new surplus profit tax on individual banks as of 2025, Economy Minister Viktors Valainis has announced, LSM reports. The tax could be levied for two years. Valainis argued that the tax would incentivise banks to increase their lending significantly. Banks that increased their volume of lending could then be…
