Cross posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/4776769

The European Union will draw up plans to build and help finance interlinked drone defences across the entire continent’s borders and critical infrastructure, the bloc’s defence commissioner said, after a spate of recent airspace violations by Russia.

EU defence ministers held a hastily arranged meeting on Friday after Russian manned and unmanned aircraft repeatedly crossed into European airspace in recent weeks, prompting calls for the continent to develop a “drone wall”.

“It is very clear that our capabilities to detect drones are not at that level which we need,” European defence commissioner Andrius Kubilius said after the meeting.

Brussels will provide “financial and industrial assistance” to countries after agreeing a “common approach” to the challenge, Kubilius said. Ministers pushed for a multilayered system including radars, acoustic detection systems and machine guns to down low-tech drones, he said.

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