Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have asked the European Commission to urgently allocate €500 million to strengthen counter-drone systems. The defence ministers of the three countries — Martin Herem (Estonia), Raivis Melnis (Latvia) and Robertas Kaunas (Lithuania) — sent a confidential letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday, 21 September.
In the document, the Baltic states justify the request by citing a growing threat from Russia in recent months. According to sources, the letter considers a scenario in which Moscow could attempt to test NATO’s readiness to invoke Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty by carrying out drone strikes against the alliance’s eastern flank.
Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn expect a positive response within a few weeks and hope to receive additional funding still in 2026. The funds are intended for systems to detect, track and neutralize unmanned aerial vehicles.
Incursions by drones into Baltic airspace have become more frequent over the past two years. According to calculations by Novaya Europa, at least 24 such incidents were recorded between January 2025 and May 2026. In the summer of 2026, NATO aircraft shot down two drones over Latvia and one over Lithuania.
The European Union had previously allocated around €12 billion to the Baltic states through the SAFE programme to strengthen defence, including counter-drone systems, air defence and protection of critical infrastructure. The new €500 million request is additional and urgent in nature.
