NATO admits it is unprepared for Russia's cheap drones
In the debate that started after allegations that Russian unmanned aerial vehicles violated Polish airspace, NATO admitted that it was unprepared for cheap drone threats. While the alliance's intervention with expensive warplanes is unsustainable, experts state that no lessons have been learned from Ukraine's experience.
Three and a half years after the start of the process called "drone wars", the debate that began after the allegations that Russian unmanned aerial vehicles violated Polish airspace, showed that NATO countries are still not prepared for the new type of war.
According to Poland's data, at least three of the 19 drones entering the country, that is, 16 percent, could be reduced. This rate is much higher in Ukraine, which is constantly attacked by Russia.
For example, on the night of the violation against Poland, the Ukrainian Air Force announced that it had destroyed 413 out of 458 vehicles, which corresponds to a success rate of 90 percent.
During the intervention, Poland activated two F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, two AWACS type reconnaissance aircraft, a refueling aircraft, Mi-24, Mi-17 and Black Hawk helicopters, and Patriot air defense systems. Ukraine, on the other hand, usually uses such advanced weapons against missiles.
Much simpler and cheaper methods have been applied against drones for a long time. These methods include many different solutions, from machine gun crews on the roofs of cars or buildings, to Yak-52 type training aircraft fired with rifles, and 5 thousand dollar preventive drones that hunt Russia's Iranian-made Witness (for example, $ 35 thousand Geran-2 or $10 Gerbera entering Poland).
Rutte: We can't go on like this
According to the news of Politico magazine, the issue came to the fore at the first meeting in Brussels on Thursday, attended by the ambassadors of the EU countries and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte attended.
Many diplomats expressed concern that NATO's response to Russian drones shows that the alliance is unprepared for such attacks.
Speaking to the newspaper, a diplomat said, “We cannot constantly vent F-35s to prevent such objects. Rutte himself came to this conclusion and no one objected to it," he said.
Ulrike Francke, a senior researcher of the Council on European Foreign Affairs, said it was very good that Poland detected and shot down drones launched by Russia in order to “subject NATO to a political and military test.”
However, Francke pointed out that the real problem lies elsewhere:
“Are we going to send F-16 and F-35 every time? This is a waste. We need to improve our equipment with defense systems against unmanned aerial vehicles.”
After what happened, Poland's first step was to demand new Patriot systems from its allies.
Germany promised to "expand and strengthen air patrols over Poland" with Eurofighter fighter jets "in addition to the existing commitments to the Baltic countries and Poland".
French President Emmanuel Macron decided to send three more warplanes to the country.
Education from Ukraine, investment offer from Rheinmetall
More practical offers came from Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy and Armin Papperger, managing director of Europe's largest defense company, Rheinmetall.
Zelenskiy offered to train the Poles in the fight against drones, and Warsaw decided to send its troops to Ukraine for this purpose.
Papperger, on the other hand, stated that his company is ready to help Poland with air defense systems, stressing that Europe should increase investments and production capacity in the development of "very cheap" anti-UAV systems.
“I think Ukraine needs twice as much as it currently has, but we have to invest in Europe, because Europe has almost nothing,” Papperger said in an interview with the Financial Times.
Some European defense companies began to develop the necessary tools, but these steps were taken in the fourth year of the war.
At the end of August, Swedish Saab introduced the new and low-cost Nimbrix missile, designed to neutralize small low-altitude UAVs.
France's arms supply agency also recently ordered a prototype for a laser drone defense system from a group of companies such as MBDA, Safran, Thales and Cilas.
Francke stated that newly established technology companies have achieved great success in this field, but there is not enough demand for their products in Europe.
According to Francke, a modern and stepped defense system that took into account unmanned aerial vehicles was also not built.
Stating that a single system cannot resist all threats, Francke added, "By definit, a multi-layered defense is required, which includes both electronic and kinetic countermeasures."
Charly Salonius-Pasternak, managing director of the Helsinki-based think tank Nordic West Office, said that NATO should have already learned from what was happening in Ukraine about "how to track and shoot down a large number of cheap drones without using millions of euros worth of missiles", adding:
"So what did the political institution in Europe do about this?"