Overview

• EU leaders accepted the Commission’s defense package, including the cross‑border anti‑drone effort, but left timing, cost, scope and governance to be negotiated.
• Southern countries and major powers raised feasibility and fairness concerns, as frontline states urged solidarity; Germany’s Friedrich Merz criticized the plan and Emmanuel Macron questioned a continent‑wide “wall.”
• Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius put initial costs for a Poland‑Baltics rollout near €1 billion and said detection capability could be in place in under a year.
• The project is expected to prioritize detection and electronic countermeasures, with branding shifting away from “drone wall” toward a European network of anti‑drone measures.
• Ukraine is feeding battlefield know‑how into pilots, including specialists sent to Denmark, while ministers prepare to revisit funding and design at Oct. 15 NATO and EU meetings.