.Based on its own experiences in teaching its members to operate in drone defense environment, the league is collaborating with HK Unicorn Squad, a girls' tech nonprofit, to expand to civilians: Unicorn Squad has designed the course and program, Defense League personnel will carry out the training.

Dubbed Kuri kotkas ("Angry Eagle"), the course aims to develop tech skills and contribute to Estonia's broad-based defense, as well as learning drone safety.

The Defense League has independently procured drones for training and is developing attack drones.

"The orders of magnitude we have currently taken into account, considering the cost of those kits, are a little under 100,000, though a procurement has to be carried out. Once that procurement has been completed, we will be able to state more precisely. My message has been that we will fund those six kits which, according to the preliminary estimate, are necessary to carry out the training and with which the Defense League will also begin to teach its own members," Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur told "Aktuaalne kaamera."

The Defense League itself will be required to find instructors with the time to conduct training, which is not a given.

"I agree — this is a challenge. The division of labor and the workload require more precise, detailed planning. Perhaps a small motivator is what [HK Unicorn Squad founder] Taavi Kotka also said, that the work related to educating the public does not have to be done completely for free," said Defense League commander Maj. Gen. Ilmar Tamm.

As to what the league already has up and running in respect of the planned courses, Tamm said "The will."

The initial small scale pilot courses are due to start soon, and if these prove successful rehearsals in using drones for tactical purposes will already be viable.
HK Unicorn Squad designed the courses, while the course fee will be €100. Organizers report enthusiasm for the course even before it has got off the ground, with around 2,000 people already signed up within the space of a week.

"The training will still be conducted and procured by the Defense League, not from us. We only helped to develop the methodology and the training materials, and that is our part in this project. The rest is still the Defense League," Kotka said.

The €100 course fee will cover Defense League instructors' pay.

Head of the Defense League's cyber defense unit Andres Hairk told "Aktuaalne kaamera": "Right now we are working on the planning. We plan to run the first real trial course in early November to understand precisely — is that instructor ratio of 10 people to three instructors the right one."

Unicorn Squad has already signed a letter of intent with the Defense League and the Ministry of Defense, to provide basic drone training for those interested.

The course page is here (link in Estonian).

Pevkur had previously stressed the importance of drone in modern warfare, as seen in their use in fending off Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Tamm highlighted that much of Estonia's current drone expertise comes from volunteer initiatives, making basic drone training an opportunity to be shared more widely.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and X and never miss an update!