Until now, the PPA had used vehicles in its Southern and Eastern prefectures that were primarily designed for traversing rough terrain. However, as development of Estonia's eastern border infrastructure continues, road conditions along it have improved considerably.

This allowed the PPA to prioritize the latest tech when acquiring its new fleet of vehicles — all of which now needs to be mastered by staff.

"It's like starting school in first grade — most folks have never driven such expensive cars before, so everything is new and unfamiliar to them," admitted Edgar Paul, field supervisor at the Piusa Border Guard Station.

Paul noted that PPA staff will have to experiment and try things out.

"Before using this new vehicle, everyone will definitely be required to thoroughly read the user manual, which includes all the necessary info," he said. "People usually tend to fiddle with things first and read the manuals later, but it needs to be the other way around. We're closely monitoring this."

The 20 new SUVs cost a total of €2 million, 90 percent of which came from EU funding.

Piusa Border Guard Station chief Romet Niilus explained that the base price of the vehicles themselves was not €100,000, noting that everything manually installed in the vehicles that border guards need — various electronic and mechanical systems — all added to the final price tag.

"Any of the old vehicles that are still kicking will definitely be going as aid to Ukraine," Niilus added.

In addition to patrolling Estonia's eastern border, some of the new SUVs will be used in joint European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) operations, both on the EU's external borders and in third countries.

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