Taavi Kotka: Looking Estonians in the eye, I can see we won't give up on our country
The goal of a new drone-training initiative available to all is to raise civilians' basic drone skills to a level which would enable a rapid response where needed, one of the initiative's creators said.
Former head of the Estonian e-Residency program Taavi Kotka is a co-creator of the "Kurja Kotka" ("Angry Eagle") project, which is being co-developed by the volunteer Defense League (Kaitseliit) and has teamed up with girls' tech nonprofit HK Unicorn Squad.
Talking to "Hommik Anuga" on Sunday, Kotka said while training is being developed by the Defense League, the methodology has relied on the knowledge of drone operators with real-life front-line experience.
A similar program had been attempted around 18 months ago, but the methodology at the time did not work, he said. "But that's how it is — if something doesn't succeed, you have to keep trying until it does," Kotka noted.
Estonia already has functioning drone training for young people, but adults have so far lacked accessible opportunities to acquire basic skills in handling drones, he went on.
The "Kurja Kotka" courses have so far proved highly popular; in the first week alone, 3,000 people registered interest. Course applicants also come from very different age groups and backgrounds as well.
More than 100 people have already completed the first stage of training.
"For me, the most important thing is that almost all of them have said they will come on the second and third courses as well," Kotka said.
Kotka stressed his main goal is to improve the Estonians' basic drone-flying skills, so that in a more tense situation it would be possible to quickly train drone operators.
"I am not a Defense League member, plus at my age there's little point in sitting in a trench with an automatic rifle; I think I'm much more useful if I fly them. There should be more of them," he added. Kotka stressed that the war experience in Ukraine has demonstrated amply the central role of drones in defensive and offensive operations. Creating drone capabilities usually takes at least two months, though prior knowledge can shorten training time in a crisis.
"For this reason it is important that we as a nation possess these skills. We are opening new firing ranges, going to try out pistol and automatic rifle [shooting]; we see that as a normal part of improving defense capabilities. Every Estonian who is not a pacifist should fire off a shot or try out how a weapon's recoil works. It's the same with drones," he found.
Despite the trying times, Estonia feels Kotka secure, in Kotka's view. That people are taking part in the drone training has also assured him the country is in safe hands.
"I look into their eyes and I comprehend that they truly love Estonia. They come with a determination that you will not take this land from us — you'll get a kick in the teeth," he added.
"I envy the Finns, who have had this same attitude for decades. Finland's reserve comes to a million people in size; ours, a few tens of thousands. For us as a nation, to want to live in this land, to want to defend it, to be here, we have to work, we must train, we must learn. So let us learn. But when I look into that face, and [see] 'you will not take this country'."
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Karmen Rebane
Source: "Hommik Anuga", interviewer Anu Välba
