More investment needed in counter-drone systems and their scale-up – Brekelmans
Drone Industry
Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans has called for greater investment in counter-drone systems in order to scale up their production.
Ukrinform reported this, according to Censor.NET.
"I believe one of the things we need to invest more in is counter-drone systems. We have some systems, we have technologies, but they need to be scaled up. One thing we can learn from Ukraine is how it deploys counter-drone systems across its territory or almost across the entire territory of such a large country," he said.
Referring to recent airspace violations involving NATO, Brekelmans stressed that Europe must be ready to respond to these challenges.
"I recall the example of the NATO summit, where we, the Netherlands, together with NATO, ensured a high level of security. At that time, we also had counter-drone systems in place. But now the question arises: given the recent airspace violations, how do we ensure such protection along the entire NATO border? And perhaps not only at the borders, but also in areas that could potentially be vulnerable to drone threats," the minister noted.
Brekelmans also expressed interest in creating joint ventures between Dutch and Ukrainian companies for the production of drones and other defense technologies.
"In my view, the sooner, the better. But I know this takes time: creating joint ventures or signing contracts is an issue of intellectual property, and it is more complex than it seems. But if it were up to me, as soon as possible. I expect that in the coming months we will already see concrete projects and the first examples of such cooperation," he concluded.
