Inside Europe's crash effort to create a 'drone wall'

PATRICK TUCKER

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TALLIN, Estonia—As Russian drone incursions across Europe spike, the European Union committed Wednesday to one of the most ambitious multi-nation defense projects in history: a Europe-wide “drone wall.”

Envisioned as a network of new sensors, artificial intelligence software, jammers, cheap missiles, and more to thwart small-drone attacks, the concept is still in its infancy. But dozens of Estonian defense tech startups gave Defense One a glimpse of how autonomous vehicles, inexpensive short-range missiles, hunter drones and AI concepts are laying the groundwork to defeat drone swarms. And nearly all of them highlighted work with Ukrainian front-line commanders as part of their development process.

The drone wall’s first bricks

Estonia, a country of about 1.3 million people that shares a 183-mile border with Russia, has taken €2.66 billion in funds from the European Union to help support companies working on drone defeat. But Estonia is also one of the fastest-growing startup and tech centers in Europe, with a focus on areas such as autonomy, advanced materials, and artificial intelligence—and it’s one of Ukraine’s most active tech-sharing partners.

In August, the Estonian government awarded €300,000 to three companies as part of an ongoing effort to develop drone wall solutions. One of those is DefSecIntel, which specializes in border security, including sensors, sensor-fusion software and drones.

During a tour of one of the company’s factories here last week, Jaanus Tamm, the founder and CEO of the 7-year-old startup, told reporters that DefSecIntel has partnered with Ukraine to help the country defend itself from Russian attacks—and the partnership has given the company frontline insight into drone threats.

DefSecIntel’s drone wall strategy relies on fast-moving, highly maneuverable sensors mounted on trucks, other drones, and even manned and unmanned boats. Those moving sensors would be joined by new, drone-specific detection technologies such as acoustic sensors that can remain fixed.