According to Minister of the Interior Igor Taro, the continued development of drone capabilities is a near-term priority due to Russia’s military moves, and proposals have been submitted to the government to allocate additional funds to this area from the broad national defense funds. “My proposal is to reallocate funds within the broad national defense investment plan and significantly increase the internal security drone capabilities by 400,000 euros. The total amount will therefore be 1.1 million euros.”
He noted that Russia’s increasingly brutal interference in the lives of neighboring countries in the past few years has also had an impact on the activities of Estonian security agencies. "For example, there have been cases where Police and Border Guard Board observation flights have been disrupted. Sometimes the equipment has become unusable as a result of incidents resulting from interference with satellite signals, and currently the direct material damage from the adversary's activities in the last three months in our area of government alone amounts to half a million euros. These situations may sometimes make us bitter, but they give us good reasons to be smart in our development work and develop new solutions. Temporary inconvenience is, on the other hand, the basis for increasing the sense of security. I am pleased to say that so far the Police and Border Guard Board's work has been at a high level, they have found a solution to or prevented every move by the adversary, and our eyes have always been where they are needed," said Taro.
“I propose to use the EU’s hybrid action sanctions regime – both those who execute orders that harm our neighbors and those who plan these actions at a higher level in the capital will have to face the consequences of their actions in the future. The participants in aggression have no business in the civilized world. We will also hold consultations with our closest allies in the near future, who are also affected by the hostilities in question,” the Minister of the Interior added.
Veiko Kommusaar, Deputy Director General of the Police and Border Guard Board, acknowledged that the Police and Border Guard Board will continue to fly drones on the eastern border. “Rather, we plan to increase the number of flights,” he said.
“Indeed, we have had some incidents and will probably continue to do so in the future, but we have consistently worked over the years to improve the ability of our drones to fly in difficult conditions, and this development work will continue in the future,” Kommusaar explained.
Director General of the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority Kristi Talving said that the GPS navigation system interference situation has intensified in Estonia, and since July a new interference source has been added, which both interferes with and spoofs the GPS signal. “The greatest impact has been identified around Narva and the Narva Bay area, where it is not safe to fly drones even at low altitudes,” Talving noted.
“Flying and traveling by ship continue to be safe, because the primary means of navigation for both sea and air transport are others that do not use GPS signals,” Talving added.
