A cruise missile is an offensive weapon that flies at low altitude for up to thousands of kilometers and primarily strikes land targets with meter-level precision. It is expensive, but experts say that only having a small number is not enough.

"The number definitely needs to be greater than 20. You have to consider how far the missile can fly and what kind of warhead it carries," said Lt. Col. Meelis Laanemets, head of the Estonian Division's Fire Support Section.

Colonel in reserve Sten Reimann said that Estonia could participate in cruise missile production in cooperation with neighboring countries.

"The question is how we can replenish these weapons during wartime — navigation systems, sensors. They must constantly be upgraded. Right now, with Finland, we are developing an alternative production solution where systems are continuously upgraded during peacetime so that in times of crisis and war, production could be decentralized," Reimann said.

Cooperation is necessary among the Baltic states and Nordic countries. The targets are the same and the distances suitable — production can be decentralized, while expertise can be consolidated. Why hasn't this been done before? The realization that missiles should be produced domestically only emerged recently, Reimann explained.

"The lesson from Ukraine is that you have to operate throughout the entire depth of the battlespace and long-range munitions are needed in very large quantities. The need could be several hundred missiles a day. Currently, Western production capacity for large missiles is just a few dozen, at best a few hundred, per year," Reimann said.

However, the road toward cruise missile production will be a rocky one. Some obstacles stem from a lack of experience, others are self-inflicted. Legislation in Estonia does not currently support arms manufacturing, Reimann said. A new Weapons Act came into force on January 1, but its implementing acts have yet to be issued.

"The implementing acts for this law must definitely be issued quickly and companies given the opportunity to apply for weapons handling licenses," Reimann said.

At the same time, the Estonian Defense Forces' technical training needs to be modernized.

"Unfortunately, the technical competence of Estonian officers is a little too low to keep pace with Russia in a technical arms race. This definitely needs to be addressed at the military academy," Reimann said.

Cruise missiles, in addition to their military value, also carry political weight, Reimann added.

"When [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy met with [Donald] Trump and JD Vance and there was a meeting in London on Sunday where Estonia was not invited — if we had 1,000 missiles in storage, Estonia would definitely have been invited to that meeting," he noted.

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