In 2024, the defense budget will exceed three percent of the gross domestic product for the first time, i.e. the new state budget strategy will allocate an additional 350 million euros to ammunition stocks to strengthen the defense capability, i.e. in total, the country will acquire ammunition for 1.35 billion euros in the coming years.
2024-2027 the total defense costs for 2018 are nearly 5.6 billion, which means a projected share of 3.03-3.21 percent of the gross domestic product. “Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine has shown that the eastern neighbor has enough political will, public support and resources to implement its policy of conquest. The security situation in Europe and the world at large remains the worst in decades, so we must consider the need to contribute more of our common wealth to national defense than before,” said Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur.
More than 50 percent of the defense budget is directed to procurements, i.e. directly to the creation of defense capabilities, with which Estonia is at the forefront in comparison to NATO.
Over the course of four years, new armor, additional mobile artillery, HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, anti-aircraft munitions and mortars will be procured for ground forces. “Furthermore, we are building a central air defense system, which is the largest defense procurement in our history and will significantly make Estonian airspace safer. Also, our indirect fire capability is making a leap in development and we are adopting anti-ship missiles,” explained Pevkur.
In 2024-2027, nearly 442 million euros will be invested in the infrastructure. The most important of them are ammunition depots and storages, Nursipalu town, military and disaster medicine center, combat school and national defense buildings in Tartu, Ämari air base canteen and the workshop of armored personnel carriers of the 2nd infantry brigade.
The defense budget reaching more than three percent means that a large part of this growth will also revive the Estonian economy as a whole. Thus, for example, in 2022, 265.5 million euros, or 53 percent, returned to the Estonian economy from defense investments and economic costs under the Ministry of Defense’s jurisdiction.