Lithuania considers Israeli drone detection system purchase

Lithuania is considering the acquisition of an early-warning drone detection system from Elbit Systems, designed to identify unmanned aerial vehicles and other objects operating in low-altitude airspace of up to approximately three kilometres.

According to LRT, the system was demonstrated on Tuesday, May 26, in Juragė in the presence of senior political and security officials. Among those attending were Seimas Speaker Juozas Olekas, Transport Minister Juras Taminskas, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the Israeli embassy in Lithuania.

The transport minister said the system could potentially be deployed using infrastructure operated by Telecentras, including relay towers. This would allow sensors to be integrated into existing networks and enable data transmission directly to the Air Force.

He stressed that the system is only one of several options under consideration, and that the Lithuanian Ministry of National Defence will make the final decision after assessing its effectiveness and cost.

The speaker of the Seimas подчеркнул that the military should conduct a thorough evaluation of how widely the system could be deployed and where it should be installed, highlighting the importance of balancing cost with operational effectiveness.

During the demonstration, a multi-layered sensor network was presented, capable of detecting, identifying and tracking a range of aerial objects, including drones and weather balloons. The system was tested using several drones flying along different trajectories and at varying altitudes, illustrating its tracking capabilities in real-time conditions.

By Tamilla Hasanova