A new dedicated drone warfare unit was announced for the Defense League last month.

Drone trainees were split up into teams hunting each other's drones at a zone near Tapa base in Lääne-Viru County when "Aktuaalne kaamera" caught up with them.

One operator, Erki, said: "The specific task for this course is for the third weekend – we've split into two teams that have to find each other, report it, and call in long-range fire."

The instructors' trainers are in Estonia, on leave from Ukraine, which with Russia's stalled invasion of their country now in its fourth year, has become a world leader in drone warfare.

One instructor, with the call sign "Max," said: "Artillery – that's like the 'weapon' of God. I would say drones – those are the 'eyes' of God. Right now, nothing gets to happen without a drone."

Another, "Picasso," said: "In the evening we're taken to our position – between 7 and 8 PM. You get out of the car, grab your gear, carry it into the dugout and start work right away. It lasts six hours. After that, you sleep for six hours. You fly, you bomb," said "Picasso".

Optimally, there should be two drone teams for every 30 soldiers, or even more. "Honestly – there should be two such teams per squad. Every battalion must have a drone company," "Max" said.

On the front in Ukraine, one assignment doesn't just last a weekend – it lasts as long as is needed.

"On average it is seven days and nights, but the longest I've been there was 29 days. We use Starlink because our 4G solution only shows the enemy the target," "Picasso" said.

Starlink, the Elon Musk-owned satellite constellation, is used by Ukraine as well as by Estonia.

However, the service is available to all who pay for it, which includes Russia.

"Unfortunately, that's how it is – we don't have the capability to get this from anywhere else," said the head of Maj. Margo Sai, who heads the Defense League's drone school.

The Defense League also showcased a couple of attack drones made here in Estonia.

The unit's members will be taking their instructors' exam and will then start taking new students out into the woods and bunkers from the fall.

Dubbed "Kullisilm," (literally "Hawk's eye"), the new unit follows Estonia's acquisition two years ago of over a hundred multirotor drones for training purposes, followed by subsequent procurements.

In the years since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine initiated by Russia began, in February 2022, Ukraine has become a center of excellence in both drone warfare and production. Whereas Russia has often purchased drones made in Iran, the Ukrainians have become adept at making them themselves, across many locations dispersed across the country. This means there is no central drone-producing facility which Russia could try to hit. One of the most spectacular recent uses of drones by Ukraine came at the start of this month, when dozens of Russian strategic bombers were damaged by drone strikes at various locations.

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