Poland builds drone defense for 20 billion

TT

Published 22.20

 

Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk (left) and Chief of the General Staff Wieslaw Kukula present a program that will increase security on Poland's eastern border. Archive photo. Photo: Czarek Sokolowski/AP/TT

Poland is to build an anti-drone system along its eastern border. The system is estimated to cost just over 20 billion kronor and is intended to be ready within two years.

- We expect the first parts of the system to be operational in about six months, maybe even earlier. And the entire system will take 24 months to complete, says Poland's Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk to The Guardian.

In September, about a dozen suspected Russian drones were sent into Polish airspace, leading to the closure of airports, the activation of attack aircraft and damage to buildings when the drones were shot down.

Tomczyk says the project will cost around two billion euros, just over twenty billion kronor, and that it will be mainly financed through the EU's newly established defense fund SAFE.

The air defense will be integrated with existing defense systems and will consist of machine guns, cannons, missiles and drone jamming systems.