"These helicopters also support NATO's future air‑defense mission, which until now has been the air‑policing mission. Previously as well, no NATO fighter jet will come to Estonia or take off here if rescue capability is not available," Taro said.

Taro stressed that if all three current Estonian police helicopters are out of service, it is impossible to take off from Ämari — and fighter jets will not come from Lithuania's Šiauliai air base either.

At least 2 helicopters must be operational all times

"No one will come into Estonian airspace if Estonia does not have rapid life‑saving capability, because it is part of the agreement. For air defense to function in the future, we must ensure that if something happens to a pilot, he can be evacuated quickly. The only way to guarantee this 100 percent is to have five helicopters, with two operational at all times. That means one can perform civilian rescue — for example, evacuating a patient from the islands to a major hospital — and the other is on standby so the defense element can respond if needed," Taro said.

According to Taro, the situation where none of the current three police copters can fly occurs seven percent of the time.

"Right now we have to hope these things don't overlap. But the risk exists, and that is why I say we need this decision immediately — we cannot postpone it. If we delay or fail to plan at the required scale, we will not eliminate that seven percent. The likelihood that something happens during that period only increases. We must do everything to avoid raising that probability," Taro said.

Taro is requesting government funding for the PPA to purchase five new helicopters and one surveillance aircraft, costing €249 million.

Also a new aircraft is needed

Estonia can no longer maintain the necessary readiness with only three aging helicopters, said Veiko Kommusaar, deputy director general of the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) for border management.

"PPA is the state's only provider of manned aviation services, and our tasks and needs have grown. A three‑helicopter model is no longer sufficient in today's security environment. People must be able to rely on PPA assistance even when several incidents happen at once," Kommusaar said.

Maintaining readiness with the current helicopters is becoming increasingly difficult due to aging equipment. Maintenance periods are getting longer, spare parts are harder to obtain, and technical availability is decreasing. In 2024, helicopter availability was nearly three times lower than in the two previous years, partly because of extended maintenance and spare‑parts delays, the Interior Ministry said in a press release.

PPA's fixed‑wing capability also needs renewal. The current aircraft is unavailable for roughly one‑third of the year due to maintenance, and its capabilities no longer meet the growing needs of PPA and its partners. Because of limited availability, Estonia has been unable to contribute to Frontex missions at the desired scale.

"This is why we need a second aircraft alongside the existing one," the ministry noted.

In recent years, the PPA Air Unit has handled around 100 medical flight requests annually. From 2022 to July this year, helicopters have responded more than 100 times to situations where a person needed rescue from water or evacuation from a vessel for medical reasons.

If funding is approved, PPA would have three new helicopters by 2031 and all five by 2033.

Budget cuts have caused "significant harm"

Speaking about other Interior Ministry funding requests in the state budget strategy, Taro said the issue is not that he or the ministry "wants something extra," but that these are needs of the Estonian people and society.

"These are urgent issues, and I constantly get asked why they haven't been addressed. For example, sheltering capability in civil protection — why are there no shelters, no safe rooms? We have now completed all legal changes and imposed obligations. The next phase must be implementation. We cannot leave people alone with this obligation — we must support them financially. In previous years we allocated around one million euros to help apartment buildings and associations. Neighboring countries invest tens of millions, which shows we are an order of magnitude behind — and the only way to fix that is by investing real resources," Taro said.

Taro said he will also request salary increases for police officers and rescue workers, though he did not specify the amount.

Regarding the Reform Party's proposed €400 million in cuts, Taro said cuts have already been made — and they have caused significant harm to Estonian society.

"In previous years we have had very conservative and pessimistic forecasts. We tightened the taps and hurt people, but later in hindsight saw that the situation was much milder," Taro said.

"In internal security, I can say that for the last 10 to 15 years we have only cut — reduced staffing, reduced patrol numbers, reduced fire station numbers and crews. We have a lot of equipment, but soon we will no longer have people to operate it. That is the result of cuts. There are counties in Estonia where, in the middle of a workweek night, there is no police patrol driving around — also because of cuts. Saying we haven't cut anything and that there is some bloated state is simply not true — it is populist rhetoric," Taro said.

--

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