After Violations By Russia, EU Proposes Defence Projects To Counter Drones, Protect Eastern Border

Last Updated:October 17, 2025, 00:53 IST

The European Commission proposed four defence projects, including European Drone Defence Initiative and Eastern Flank Watch, to strengthen EU security amid rising Russia concerns.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. (Reuters File Image)

The European Commission on Thursday proposed four European defence projects, including a counter-drone system and a plan to fortify the eastern border. This is part of its plan to have the continent prepared to defend itself by 2030.

According to Reuters, the proposals, in a defence policy “roadmap", reflect fears fuelled by the war in Ukraine that Russia may attack an EU member in the coming years, and calls by US President Donald Trump for Europe to do more for its own security.

“Danger will not disappear even when the war in Ukraine ends. It is clear we need to toughen our defences against Russia," European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said at a press conference.

The Commission said that two “flagships" were especially urgent – the European Drone Defence Initiative, previously known as the “drone wall", and Eastern Flank Watch, which aims to “fortify the EU’s Eastern borders across land, air and sea".

It said that these projects should have initial capacity by the end of 2026. Reuters quoted the commission as stating that the drone project should be fully functional a year later and “flank watch" should reach that status at the end of 2028.

It also proposed European Air Shield, to defend against missiles and other airborne threats, and a European Space Shield, to protect European space assets and services.

According to the Commission’s officials, the proposals were based on NATO’s own capability targets and that EU governments would play the key role in managing the projects.

European Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius suggested that the EU countries could use national defence budgets and funds such as the EU’s 150 billion euro SAFE loans scheme for defence projects.

Recently, several European countries reported violations of their airspace by Russia. However, the Kremlin denied their involvement.

NATO claimed that its aircraft intercepted three Russian MiG-31 fighters last week after they crossed into Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland.

Estonia said that the three fighter jets entered its airspace without permission in the area of Vaindloo Island, around 100 kilometres (124 miles) from the capital Tallinn, and stayed there for a total of 12 minutes.

Italy, Finland and Sweden scrambled military jets attached to NATO’s air defence support mission to intercept the Russian jets and warn them off.

News world After Violations By Russia, EU Proposes Defence Projects To Counter Drones, Protect Eastern Border

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