Estonia's defense spending will rise to five percent of GDP next year and is likely to increase even further in the future. To what extent do you see that the military advice you have given 8to the government -ed.) has been fully implemented?

Military advice is not some sort of mandatory message given to the government. It is advice that is intended to inform the government both of the threat picture, the threat trends and what we need to do to be up to the task.

So far, all of the military advice that I have given to the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) has been listened to by the government, which has also sought solutions in response to that advice.

The current talk about the percentage is also indicative, so to speak, because I am not talking about percentages. I'm talking about the capabilities that are needed, where the calculations are made, and how much it will cost. Today, our calculations show that the percentage of defense expenditure has to go up by an average of five percent, but that is an average increase.

Again, depending on the changes and the operations that we see in Ukraine – the ceasefire, the different moves made by Russia in the military domain – there may also be situations where some things have to be done faster or, conversely, some things we can postpone. It's more a case of marking out and finding resources.

As head of the Defense Forces, of course, I think that the additional need for resources also puts pressure on society, but I must not take that as a constraint – I am not preparing military advice necessary to strengthen our military defense [on that basis]. It is necessary made for the purpose of our military defense, that is, to achieve the conditions necessary to win a war.

What are we currently doing fastest?

The fastest thing is still the aerial domain. What we are seeing in Ukraine is that the amount of air strikes are steadily increasing trend – targeting infrastructure that provides vital services. Ukraine has been successful in that respect, but these strikes are so massive that it only takes 10 to 15 percent of them to get through for the damage to be felt and to have an impact on the functioning of society.

Therefore, everything related to layered air defenses and their monitoring and detection is our priority today.

Deep strikes?

Deep strikes are, in fact, also an important part of how we reduce an adversary's capability to conduct air strikes. Deep strikes play a role in destroying launchers that would send ballistic or cruise missiles in our direction, or in destroying the enemy's aerial assets before they take off from the airfield.

Of course, the war in Ukraine has also taught Russia to leave things at a distance, but it still has to keep certain things within attacking range of our systems. These things are interconnected. The reason we started with deep strike capabilities earlier was because it is quicker to do. To do that we've also had to have the training to a level whereby we can do those things, and we've been through it repeatedly.

The air defenses have actually been in the works all along as well. Now, we have already completed the procurement for the arrival of the medium-range air defense systems, which will be coming shortly. However, in the case of the Ukrainian war training exercise, those quantities are not enough – that is the honest situation at the moment.

Of course, we will need more personnel for when we have new capabilities, new weapons and new equipment coming in. How are we going to get to a situation where we have enough people to recruit?

We have done studies that show that the future Defense Forces will also have to grow in terms of active personnel, but for now, our first priority is to fill the posts that are currently vacant .

There are a number of reasons behind this, including our own demographic situation. I would argue that a great many private companies are also facing the same problem of not having enough people.

Our first step is to fill those vacancies, while at the same time keeping our current pool of people in service for a long time – offering them different opportunities within the service, as well as challenges and also trying to keep their motivation at a sufficient level.

The current situation is actually doing us a favor, because the situation itself is already motivating. If you have chosen to contribute to military defense in any case, then the current situation gives you the feeling that we are now basically getting to where an athlete gets to before the Olympics – if we look at it from a humorous perspective, so to speak.

But we are also taking a number of steps to try to broaden the points of entry, to add to it, so that it is possible to enter the Defense Forces through other routes that have, up to now, not existed.

It has already been said that after completing the basic training course they go on to study at the Defense Academy. This essentially allows them to concentrate on their studies, but at the same time they are already competent as a soldier, because during the training at the Defense Academy a lot of these things are taught in any case, which are also part of the sub-unit course during military service.

Secondly, what we are also doing is speeding up the process to become officers and maybe not at all requiring an academic education. For that, we also have the reserve officer model at them moment, whereby conscripts who are selected and are competent enough are also put through the wartime group leader course and graduate with the honorary rank of lieutenant or officer. The production of non-commissioned officers is an aside here, whereby we will then try to put as many non-commissioned officers as possible, who have proved themselves to be good during their military service, onto the career path of a senior non-commissioned officer.

They are there, but for the time being, it seems to me that our information is not reaching people. So, once again, if someone is now thinking or wondering what to do with their future career, then there are a lot of opportunities in the Defense Forces, in the form of active service, which are attractive, interesting, exciting and contribute to our military defense.

If, in a single year, we take on fewer conscripts, should we be worried that this will somehow reduce our force's capabilities?

No, we don't need to worry about that. Instead, I would say that people should take it as a positive sign that we are making substantive changes and improving the quality of the training. Because today's conscription model is now almost 20 years old, with the addition of a few cosmetic changes, and was appropriate for the previous security environment, but is no longer appropriate.

The conscripts themselves have told me that they would like to contribute more to real combat capabilities, and that's why we're changing the model, so that the conscript is part of the force needed to perform a wartime mission during their service.

And reducing the interim number does not change our readiness in military term. It does not change the readiness of our reserves, because again, the conscript service is the first and most important training base for the reserve service. Service is not an end in itself, it is simply a base level of training that we adapt. I dare say that if we implement this modernization, in 2027 the quality of our military service will be on a completely different level.

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