“Our warehouses are empty, we have no drones!” Pabriks urges to organize a national order for Latvian drone manufacturers

“I think this initiative is good and welcome. It is also very good that we are among the leading countries or the leading country in general in this coalition,” said the former Minister of Defense and director of the “Northern European Center” think tank Artis Pabriks in the TV24 program “Kartības rullis” when evaluating the drone coalition established in February this year, where Latvia and several other countries – Ukraine, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Canada and the United Kingdom.

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However, Pabriks called to focus not only on providing assistance to Ukraine. “Maybe it will happen next month [aprīlī], but, in my opinion, we lack this national order from the government in general for these Latvian businessmen,” urged Pabriks. He believes that here “there should be a claim to the Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister for about 50-80 million euros”.

“I’m just thinking about the fact that our warehouses are empty right now. We don’t have drones! We have to have… We have to have different levels of drones for each battalion, each brigade, starting with the “FVP” small drones and ending with the big ones. By the way, the large “Penguin” type drones can also currently throw explosives. This should be consistently implemented in order to give the industry an understanding that in the next two years, let’s say, they are required to produce so and so thousands of such drones, so and so hundreds of such drones,” commented Pabriks, director of the “Northern European Center” think tank.

Also, the upside is where this “synergy” can be seen, that it should be combined with the construction of the ammunition factory. “Because those drones have to throw something and practice, but not everyone and everywhere can practice with explosives. As long as there is no such order, the drone industry will be in a state of stagnation,” said Pabriks in the TV24 program “Kartības rullis” discussing current affairs in the field of national defense.

It has already been reported that on February 14 of this year Ukraine, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden signed a letter of intent to participate in the drone coalition alongside Latvia. On February 15, the United Kingdom also joined the coalition. In March, Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair announced during a meeting with Spruda about Canada joining the drone coalition initiated by Latvia in support of Ukraine.

Latvia will allocate at least 10 million euros per year for the development of the drone coalition. The ambition of the member states in the drone coalition is to provide 1 million drones for Ukraine’s needs. By signing the letter of intent, the countries undertake to invest resources in the production of drones, deliver drones and spare parts to Ukraine, as well as carry out drone testing and training of troops, and the implementation of other technical solutions.

See more in the attached video!

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