FM: US passing Baltic Security Initiative shows Washington understands Estonia's security
Thursday's United States Senate decision to support continued security aid to Estonia shows Washington fully understands the security challenges facing the region, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna (Eesti 200) said.
The Senate on Thursday voted for the continuation of the Baltic Security Initiative (BSI) which enhances the defense capabilities of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
"In the current security environment, with Russia continuing its war of aggression against Ukraine and becoming increasingly brazen in its provocations towards NATO allies, yesterday's positive news sends a strong signal that the United States remains committed to strengthening transatlantic security," Tsahkna said.
"The United States' contribution to strengthening the security of the Baltic states over the years has been of immense value, enabling us to accelerate the development of several key defense capabilities," the minister went on via a press release.
At the same time, Estonia is pulling its weight with its own defense budget, Tsahkna noted.
"Estonia takes its deterrence and defense posture very seriously, allocating nearly 4 percent of GDP to defense this year and increasing defense spending to over 5 percent next year. Every dollar the U.S. invested in Estonia's security last year was matched by Estonia with another 12 dollars to its own defense budget," he added.
Wednesday's Senate decision marks one of several key steps that could ultimately result in the approval of a dedicated allocation in the 2026 defense budget to strengthen the defense capabilities of the Baltic States: The Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the U.S. defense budget, will have to be reconciled with the House of Representatives' own version.
Funds provided under the BSI and also U.S. State Department's Foreign Military Financing (FMF) programs are used to procure U.S. defense industry materiel, services, and training.
Items acquired with U.S. security assistance include M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), equipment supporting integrated air and missile defense capabilities, communications systems, night-vision devices, ammunition — including Javelin missiles and large-caliber artillery shells — coastal surveillance radars, monitoring systems, and battlefield medical supplies.
The BSI was established in 2020 to enhance the independent defense capabilities of the Baltic States and improve interoperability between them.
BSI sums to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania collectively have also risen every year since the program started, to US$231 million in 2025, from US$228 million in 2024, US$225 million in 2023, US$180 million in 2022, and US$169 million in 2021.
The annual distribution of BSI funds among the Baltic States varies according to their specific capability needs: The Estonian Ministry of Defense also confirmed Friday that the Senate-approved BSI component of the NDAA comes to US$350 million (around €303 million) for Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
The NDAA itself passed at the Senate by 77 votes to 20 late Thursday and is worth US$925 billion (€799.7 billion).
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
