EU unprepared for drone warfare, needs urgent defence overhaul, commissioner says

The European Union is facing significant defence challenges due to Russia’s extensive use of drones, European Commissioner for Defence Andrius Kubilius said during a panel discussion at the Ukrainian House in Davos. 

Kubilius stated that EU member states were unprepared for new types of threats and that the current defence infrastructure requires urgent transformation. He explained that the large-scale deployment of drones on the battlefield in Ukraine has exposed Europe’s lack of readiness to counter such technologies, Caliber.Az reports, citing Ukrainian media. 

As an example, he pointed to Poland’s response to drone incursions, noting that the country relied on conventional measures by scrambling fighter jets and using missiles costing around one million euros to shoot down drones. According to Kubilius, such approaches highlight the inefficiency of existing defense methods against modern, low-cost threats.

The European commissioner emphasised that reforming defence systems is a lengthy process and warned that Europe is moving too slowly and is already behind schedule. He said the EU should learn from Ukraine’s experience and its broader understanding of a modern defense ecosystem.

Kubilius also drew attention to the scale of drone requirements, noting that Ukraine’s 1,200-kilometre front line requires approximately four million drones annually. He added that Lithuania, which has around 900 kilometres of border with Russia and Belarus, would need about three million drones each year.

He stressed that stockpiling drones in warehouses would be ineffective because of the rapid pace of technological obsolescence. Instead, he argued that the EU must focus on building a comprehensive defence ecosystem, including trained personnel capable of manufacturing, managing, and operating drone systems in a coordinated manner.

He concluded that achieving this goal would require a fundamental overhaul of Europe’s defence procurement system.

By Sabina Mammadli