European governments are encouraging their defense industries to jointly develop and produce unmanned systems with Ukrainian companies, while cautioning to simultaneously new keep tanks and armored vehicles on hand for defending NATO’s eastern flank, officials said at the Warsaw Security Forum.
Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius, the deputy prime minister and defense minister of the Netherlands, highlighted the Dutch defense sector’s ties with Ukraine in the field of drones.
“Our armed forces are really training, as we speak, every day with the knowledge the Ukrainians have, because … they have the most innovative Army in Europe,” Yeşilgöz-Zegerius said on Oct. 12. “And what we are doing at the same time … is investing in our own defense industry. Because it was also, of course, due to a lack of spending, not that strong anymore. And in Europe we have that issue.”
Meanwhile, while investing in drone and counter-drone systems, NATO allies bordering Russia are also procuring heavy gear for their land forces and seeking to secure a significant share of manufacturing work for their domestic defense industries.
Lithuanian Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas told Defense News at the forum that the country’s planned acquisition of six-wheel-drive armored personnel carriers from Finland’s Patria is an example of how allies can work together on major purchases for their land forces. The vehicles are to support the Baltic state’s National Division, its main combat unit.
by Defense News – European officials weigh mix of high-tech drones and heavy armor
