As Gen. Herem has previously stated, Estonia lacks the necessary indirect fire and precision weapons to cause such significant damage to its adversaries that they would withdraw their forces during a potential attack. We need ammunition quickly, Herem insists. 

"We are rather in a hurry today. I wouldn't advise taking projects that span over three years, let alone five years, seriously right now," he said.

The general has the support of the Riigikogu defense committee, but the coalition's position, including the minister of defense, is important as well.

"More ammunition is needed. It is also important to note that this is an emergency decision. First, we have already made a choice to take on long-term debt and repay it. Second, we should further increase national defense spending, which is over 3 percent already, to approximately 4 to 4.5 percent of GDP. Maybe even more. Alternatively, we could explore the possibility of implementing this initiative on a one-time basis using external resources. To that end, we also have an initiative to create a European defense bond, which focuses on air defense and munitions in particular," Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur (Reform), said.

Aivar Sõerd (Reform), a member of the Riigikogu's finance committee, said that if we borrow more, we will face the excessive deficit and an even more significant deficit in the future, together with a downgrade of the country's credit rating. Raising taxes impacts economic development and competitiveness. Sõerd believes that significant savings are necessary.

"Cuts are necessary in social, educational, and health areas. This means that people simply have to invest even more in health and education. There also need to be more drastic cuts in public administration," he said.

Neither Pevkur nor Sõerd question Herem's reasoning on the need for a billion and a half. In the autumn, the extra money to buy ammunition will be a matter of national budget strategy debates.

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