According to the Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur in a statement published on September 19, following the government’s budget negotiations, a decision has been made to allocate funds to mid-range air defence that will allow an operational system by 2025.
“Mid-range air defence was one of my priorities and I am very glad that the government coalition is paving the way for establishing functional mid-range air defence capabilities for Estonia by 2025”, said Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur. “This is a big step forward towards filling this critical capability gap.”
The mid-range air defence investment will be spread from 2024 until 2027. To ensure that Estonia has functional mid-range air defence capabilities by 2025, the procurement contract has to be signed by Q1 2023 at the latest, and the first systems should arrive in Estonia by 2024. The exact volume of the investment will be determined at the end of the procurement process.
The procurement process is headed by the ECDI, which has also conducted comprehensive market research, compiled procurement documents and published the joint procurement with Latvia.