Investor: Baltic defense forces cool on domestic drones
There are too few drone developers in the Baltic states, partly as some local defense forces are cool towards domestic products, according to an investor in the sector.
This is in spite of the Ukraine War experience and the ascension of drones in that conflict.
Firms are active nonetheless, and Baltic unmanned vehicle manufacturers showcased some of their systems at the Port of Muuga, near Tallinn, on Wednesday.
Around 50 people gathered on the quayside to catch a glimpse of devices from Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvian companies. A planned unmanned maritime vehicle launch had to be canceled due to unsuitable weather conditions.
James Acuna, CEO of Ondas Capital, whose investment and consulting firm organized the presentation, said there are only 20 to 30 developers of such systems in the Baltics.
Companies do need a domestic market, he noted, yet local military brass have so far been slow to adopt unmanned systems, in the case of Estonia mainly because it lacks a drone ecosystem.
Latvia has done better on this so far, Acuna said. "If you look at Latvia, for example. Latvia is one of the co-chairs of the army of drones, with the Untied Kingdom that is designated to provide drones to Ukraine. And so Latvia was able to raise close to 500 mill euros between 15 different countries in the EU, to be able to provide those drones to Ukraine. And so they created an ecosystem."
He cited Poland as another example, noting that while Polish generals favor tanks and fighter jets, the country also places emphasis on unmanned systems.
The Muuga demonstration included a small unmanned ground vehicle from a Tartu-based company founded by a Ukrainian. The vehicle was used in a recent Ukrainian operation near Lyman, Donetsk oblast, where flying drones delivered ground drones into the enemy's rear.
"There, our small drone was one of the main actors attacking the opponents. Production capacities must still be in the thousands per month. That level has not yet been reached in NATO countries or in Ukraine. In fact, the use of UGVs — land platforms — is still in development," said the head of Ark Robotics' field operations team, who went by the name "Vello."
Drone demos which did go ahead in Muuga included Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) of different sizes, and quadcopter-type drones issuing colored smoke.
The original "Aktuaalne kaamera" segment can be viewed by clicking on the player below.
Estonian Defense Week has been running this week. More information is here.
--
Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!
Editor: Andrew Whyte, Johanna Alvin
Source: 'Aktuaalne kaamera'
