NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Wednesday in Brussels, at the press conference ahead of the Alliance’s meeting of foreign ministers, which will take place on Thursday and Friday in Helsingborg, Sweden, that NATO must be ready for the new realities of modern warfare, especially the threat posed by drones.

The NATO chief referred to Tuesday’s action by a Romanian F-16 fighter jet, on a NATO air policing mission in the Baltic region, where it shot down a drone that had entered Estonian airspace. According to him, such situations are exactly the type of scenarios for which the Alliance is currently preparing.

„This is exactly the kind of situation we are training and preparing for,” the Secretary General said, stressing that NATO is constantly adapting its capabilities to respond to emerging threats. He added that the lessons learned from the war in Ukraine, where the use of drones has become a central element of the conflict, are being integrated into the way the Alliance develops its defence systems.

„As for the broader question of how we can best counter drones, that of course depends on the situation – on the context in which you need fighter jets or other systems. But in general, as you know, the eastern flank is not just about bringing together all our capabilities. We must learn all the lessons from Ukraine, from the drone war. Ukraine is fighting successfully against Russia and we must integrate these lessons into NATO’s systems, models and approach. Because, ultimately, we need to be aware of one fact: the way warfare is conducted has changed, and Ukraine is showing us that,” Rutte said, according to the video recording of the press conference posted on NATO’s website.

Rutte reiterated that the organisation’s priority is strengthening air defence and anti-drone capabilities on the eastern flank, as well as improving coordination among member states in order to respond quickly to such situations.

AGERPRES