Experts: Europe is not yet able to cope with hybrid attacks
Europe is not prepared to deal with the hybrid attacks that took place across Europe this week and more power should be given to agencies to shoot them down quickly, Estonian experts say.
In recent weeks, drone sightings at European airports – such as Copenhagen, Munich and Oslo – have grounded hundreds of flights.
On Sunday morning, flights at Lithuania's Vilnius Airport were temporarily halted after reports of dozens of smuggler balloons flying nearby. So far this year, the police have found 500 such balloons that smugglers use to move cigarettes over the Belarusian border. Similar incidents have been reported in Latvia and Poland.
Tomas Jermalavicius, a researcher at the International Center for Defense and Security (ICDS), said that while this is a chronic problem for Lithuania, recent drone disruptions show that Europe as a whole is not ready for such hybrid threats.
"Our governments have, from the beginning, failed to fulfill their responsibilities and to anticipate this problem. Nor have they addressed the organizational, legal, and technical challenges it poses, and they have not prepared for it," Jermalavicius said.
Two years ago, during reserve exercises at Estonia's Ämari Air Base, a drone appeared in the sky whose origin was unknown to the participants.
Andrus Padar, an expert at the Remote Sensing Research and Development Center, said there are not enough specialists to deal with such threats.
The Aviation Act stipulates that the Transport Administration is responsible for the sector, but it lacks personnel to counter the threats. The police is in the same situation.
"The Aviation Act says that in geographically restricted no-fly zones established by the Transport Administration, the police provide support, but the police also do not yet have the same kind of manpower as in the West. We need to start reallocating resources," Padar said.
One consideration is to expand authority to a wider range of agencies.
"We are currently considering — it has not yet reached the legislature — whether providers of essential services, such as electricity grid operators and major substation managers, should also have some authority in drone defense," Padar said.
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Editor: Johanna Alvin, Helen Wright
Source: Aktuaalne kaamera
