Estonian Defense League raising funds from recycling to buy drones

When people return their used bottles to a recycling machine at Coop supermarket, they also have the option to donate money to the Estonian Defense League to help them buy drones. A new drone costs around €800, meaning to buy one, 8,000 bottles need to be recycled.
To donate money to the Estonian Defense League to buy new drones, people returning their plastic bottles just need to select the option to do so on the recycling machines at Coop supermarkets.
"One drone costs about €800 and so you need to collect 8,000 bottles," said Aivar Hanniotti, an instructor in the Estonian Defense League.
"The drones can fly up to 25 kilometers outward and up to 3 kilometers upwards, carrying a 1.5 kilograms in weight," Hanniotti said, adding that that means they can carry different types of explosive charges, which have been specially developed in Estonia.
The drones can mainly be used to target enemy infantry, as well as logistics and armored vehicles. "It takes ten shots to destroy a heavily armored vehicle," Hanniotti explained. "The Ukrainian experience shows that it takes five to ten drones to destroy one armored vehicle, or for €5,000 we can destroy one T-90 tank," he added.
Swarming refers to the ability of fully self-guiding drones to cluster together in groups while carrying out a common mission. The Ukrainians already have swarming drones as part of their military arsenal, while these types of drone attacks have not yet been fully mastered in Estonia. However, the Estonian drones are learning fast.
It only needs a few drones per swarm to slip through the enemy's defenses in order to complete an attack mission, which is why swarm attack drones are such an innovative and valuable weapon.
"Because the Defense League has reserve soldiers and we also prepare volunteers to take part in direct combat operations, drones are indispensable for our training," said Col. Eero Rebo, chief of staff of the Estonian Defense League (Kaitseliit).
Nowadays, drones are a commodity, with thousands used every day, the colonel pointed out.
"The reason why we are asking for funding is that the technology is evolving rapidly. Today, drones are already being used by almost everyone – by the infantry, for shelling," Col. Rebo said, adding that they are also used for communications.
According to Col. Rebo, they are not talking about individual drones, but instead a commodity that is expended heavily in battle and has a very high payload, yet also needs to be cheap and replaceable, and above all very easy to use for operators.
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Editor: Annika Remmel, Michael Cole
Source: "Ringvaade," interviewer Jüri Muttika