Treriksrøysa on the boundary between Finland, Norway and Russia. Source: Wikimedia Commons, Julia Velkova, CC BY 2.0
The Finnish eastern border accounts for more than half of the EU and NATO’s total border with Russia. In Finland, people had hoped for concrete solutions—and money—to protect the border.
“It is clear that the threat comes from the east. Therefore, it would have been desirable for the EU to be able to directly support the countries on its eastern border,” says Aleksanteri Sirén, captain at the Finnish Defence University.
Aleksanteri Sirén does not want to say what the protection of Finland’s eastern border looks like today, or where the biggest shortcomings are.
But he describes a drone wall as a network of various sensors that can detect drones, which then have to be shot down—in the cheapest possible way.
“The surveillance network is already quite good, but how to improve it, that is the next step. Then you have to think about how much a sensor costs and how many are needed,” he says.
More Challenges With Finnish Drone Wall
For Finland, there are several challenges with a drone wall—the border is long and the terrain is partly impassable.
In addition, there is a lack of money.
At first there was talk of a drone wall on the eastern border, but the European Commission then came to the conclusion that a drone dome is needed—that is, that the entire EU should be protected and thus the money should also be spread out. For Finland, this was a huge disappointment.
“We had hoped for solidarity. It is clear that the threat comes from the east and therefore it would of course be desirable that the EU can also directly support the countries on its eastern border,” says Heikki Autto, chairman of the Finnish Parliament Defence Committee.
Source: SVT (in Swedish)