{"id":52445,"date":"2018-09-12T19:13:27","date_gmt":"2018-09-12T19:13:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/09\/12\/estonia-eyes-mid-range-air-defense-systems-to-rectify-nato-oversight\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:54:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:54:02","slug":"estonia-eyes-mid-range-air-defense-systems-to-rectify-nato-oversight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2018\/09\/12\/estonia-eyes-mid-range-air-defense-systems-to-rectify-nato-oversight\/","title":{"rendered":"Estonia eyes mid-range air defense systems to rectify NATO \u2018oversight\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ahead of the 2018 NATO summit in Brussels, several Baltic nations are pushing to expand the role of NATO in air defense. (Aaron Mehta & Jeff Martin\/Staff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Estonia\u2019s military is prioritizing the purchase of a midrange air defense system as the country seeks to plug a capability gap its defense minister called the result of a \u201ctotal oversight\u201d by NATO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a Washington trip to attend Sen. John McCain\u2019s funeral, Estonian Defence Minister J\u00fcri Luik told Defense News that NATO made a strategic mistake in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union by not building up air defense capabilities, outside of rotational deployments of aircraft<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor a long time, there was no consideration that you would actively have to close the airspace at some point. So NATO countries have very weak air defense capabilities,\u201d Luik said. \u201cI think this is one of the priority systems, or priority areas, which every [one of the allied] countries should develop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have to say with sadness that very few NATO countries actually have proper air defense capabilities. That is one of the areas which was gravely mismanaged, or was not under any attention,\u201d he added. \u201cI think that was a total oversight. But, of course, it was based on the idea that the era of big power tensions is over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luik hopes to put Estonia\u2019s money where his mouth is. The country in June signed an agreement<\/a> with MBDA to purchase more Mistral short-range air defense weapons, but has its eyes on adding another layer of protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country is looking at procuring a medium-range air defense system, similar to the Kongsberg network-centric air defence system, or NASAMS, purchased by Lithuania<\/a>, which is also in use by Finland. While not declaring Estonia would also go after NASAMS, Luik acknowledged that regional air defense systems \u201cshould be as close as possible coordinated\u201d with neighborhood countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, such a system is \u201cthe only step which is even theoretically available to our country with our defense spending<\/a>,\u201d Luik said, even if the upcoming March elections lead to a government willing to increase defense spending to about 2.5 percent of gross domestic product. (At the worst, Luik predicts, defense spending would remain flat.)<\/p>\n\n\n\t