Melnis thus went against some Latvian representatives who let it be known that shooting down every drone with fighter jets is “too expensive”. According to the minister, who took over from Andris Sprūds in May, the lives of Latvian citizens are incalculable.
However, he talks about the need to find an alternative to the fighter jets that intervened against drones in Latvia, for example, on June 8. According to him, Latvia is working to make it possible to shoot down drones as cheaply and efficiently as possible.
“Not with expensive missiles, but primarily with the use of cheap and effective anti-drone systems of our industry,” quotes LSM Melnise.
Experience from Ukraine
The minister added that Riga is already testing such systems and will deploy them at the borders in the future. At the same time, Latvia entered into cooperation with Ukraine in order to obtain its experience and combat-proven systems, which the Latvian industry, at least for now, does not produce.
“The most important thing is that we build our own defense system so that we can successfully shoot down drones that fly into Latvian airspace,” he emphasized.
As Melnis is a new minister, he also mentioned his priorities in office. He stated that he wants to take over experience from Ukraine, strengthen the protection of the airspace and the eastern border, and also support the integration of the Latvian defense industry into the National Armed Forces and the defense sector.
Since the beginning of Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine, foreign drones have flown into Latvian airspace several times. At the end of May, two landed on Latvian territory, one of them damaged an oil warehouse.
