BRUSSELS (Chatnewstv.com) — The European Union is developing a continent-wide drone defense system, learning from Ukraine’s battlefield innovations to boost security for all member states, the bloc’s top diplomat said Wednesday.
Following a meeting of EU defense ministers, High Representative Kaja Kallas announced the initiative is a core part of a new “defense readiness roadmap” that aims to have concrete capabilities in place by 2030. She stressed that the threat of drone attacks extends far beyond the bloc’s eastern border with Russia.
“It is clear for every Member State that actually the drones could come from anywhere,” Kallas told reporters in Brussels. She explained that an initial idea of a “drone wall” on the eastern flank has now expanded. “The other Member States said that the drones could also come from the ships, for example. So, it is also a risk for the Southern Member States.”
Kallas, who recently returned from a trip to Ukraine, said the EU can learn from Kyiv’s experience to quickly and efficiently scale up its defenses.
“I was visiting also the defence industry drone factories,” she said. “We can bring the procurement costs down [and] procurement times down if we really cooperate with the Ukrainians regarding this.”
The plan envisions the EU helping member countries with joint procurement of sensors and interceptors, complementing rather than duplicating the work of NATO.
“We are not doubling the work that NATO is doing. Actually, we are complementing each other,” Kallas insisted, adding that military planning remains with NATO. “The procurement has to be done by the Member States… and this is what we are trying to help them with.”
Amid questions about a stronger role for the European Defence Agency (EDA), Kallas, who heads the agency, voiced her full support, saying it provides the framework to “bring the Member States together to push for more joint projects.”
The High Representative also defended the EU’s continued military support for Ukraine as a financial and strategic necessity. When asked if Europe could afford to keep arming Kyiv, she presented a stark choice.
“We have two choices. The other choice is that this war will go further,” Kallas said. “So, actually, it is cheaper for us to help Ukraine to defend itself, so that this war doesn’t go any further.”
She described Russia’s ongoing provocations as a dual strategy designed “to test our unity” and to “sow fear inside our society so that we would refrain from helping Ukraine.”
On a separate issue, Kallas outlined a potential non-combat role for the EU in implementing a Gaza peace plan, pointing to two existing missions that could be expanded. The EUBAM Rafah border crossing mission and the EUPOL COPPS civilian mission to train Palestinian police are “very concrete things that we bring to the table,” she said.
However, she ruled out a direct EU military deployment.
“Europe does not have an army on its own, it’s Member States separately,” Kallas stated, confirming there were no plans for a military mission with EU “boots on the ground.”
