Estonia intends to purchase long-range missiles and drones to attack the enemy before they reach the country’s borders. This was stated on October 18 by the director of the Estonian State Defense Investment Center (RKIK), Magnus-Valdemar Saar, in an interview with Defense One.
“Nowadays you can’t just fight in hand-to-hand combat with anti-tank weapons or anything like that. We need to go deeper. “It is necessary to disable enemy forces before they reach the front line.” – said.
According to Saar, Estonia should act faster than NATO to ensure national security.
The country is currently considering the purchase of new reconnaissance means and may also increase spending on air defense, short-range man-portable missile systems or longer-range interceptors, he said. Before 2035, the possibility of obtaining a weapon with a longer range than the German IRIS-T air defense system will also be considered.
Earlier, on October 7, Saar reported that Estonia had asked the United States to allow it to purchase additional long-range ATACMS missiles with delivery until 2031. In his words, the country plans to buy three to four times more missiles than last time. For these purposes, it is planned to use an additional 1.6 billion euros of defense funds, Izvestia reminds.
