Overview

• EU defence ministers agreed in a videoconference to start implementing a counter‑drone concept focused on an integrated barrier along the eastern flank.
• The planned system would detect, track and intercept unmanned aircraft using advanced, networked capabilities.
• Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said he will seek leaders’ approval in October before drafting a technical roadmap, mobilizing Europe’s defence industry and tapping EU financing instruments.
• Ministers from Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania joined the meeting alongside EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, NATO representatives, Hungary, Slovakia and Denmark’s EU Council presidency, with Ukraine sharing battlefield lessons in a separate briefing.
• Urgency has grown after unidentified drones disrupted Danish airports this week and following a recent large drone incursion into Polish airspace, while fresh sightings in Germany’s Schleswig‑Holstein prompted reinforced local counter‑drone measures; Kubilius has floated a one‑year build timeline as an aspiration.