Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo held a press conference after his meeting with EU Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius at the Finnish Parliament in Helsinki, Finland on September 26, 2025. One of the main topics of their meeting is the proposed ‘drone wall’ to be assigned to protect EU’s Russian border. Photo: Vesa Moilanen / Lehtikuva
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Petteri Orpo has called on Southern European states to share the financial burden of a proposed European Union “drone wall” aimed at protecting the bloc’s eastern border from aerial incursions.
The Finnish prime minister made the statement after meeting Andrius Kubilius, the European Commissioner for Defence and Space, in Helsinki on Friday. Orpo said the defence of Europe’s borders requires funding that reflects current threats.
“This is Europe’s border. We are defending Europe here,” Orpo said. “We have shown economic solidarity to Southern Europe for 20 years. Now we expect solidarity in security.”
The ‘drone wall’ refers to a network of technologies designed to detect, identify, and intercept hostile unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The system would cover the eastern flank of the EU, including Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. Parts of the technology are already deployed in Ukraine.
The initiative was endorsed earlier this month by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, in her State of the Union address. Von der Leyen called the project the foundation of credible defence.
Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometre border with Russia, is backing the proposal. Orpo said funding should be directed through the EU’s multiannual budget and prioritised toward the eastern border, rather than being allocated equally across the bloc.
“That money must not be divided by any traditional formula. It must be directed to countries along the eastern edge,” Orpo said.
The Finnish government is also open to new financing models, though Orpo said he opposes expanding the EU’s existing joint debt instrument, known as “safe bonds”, to fund the drone wall.
“It would still be debt for us,” he said. “It would not show that European re entered their airspace. Estonia reported three Russian fighter jets flying for 12 minutes in its airspace. Airports in Denmark and Norway have temporarily closed due to drone sightings.
Finnish police confirmed they had received several reports of potential drone activity in Finland. Most cases have been attributed to hobbyists or civilian air traffic. No confirmed incidents have been linked to foreign state actors.
“We’ve had various sightings along the way,” Orpo said. “But nothing that causes major immediate concern.”
Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said there is currently no need for alarm. Speaking in New York after attending UN meetings, she said such incidents are not new.
“Unless this becomes systematic or there is a clear actor behind it, this is not alarming,” she told reporters.
She said Finland and Denmark have strong legal frameworks to investigate drone activity. Valtonen said she discussed the issue with Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, European industry players have signalled readiness to deploy drone wall technologies. Estonian defence company DefSecIntel and Latvia’s Origin Robotics have jointly developed a system called Eirshield. The platform uses radar, cameras, and radio frequency sensors to detect threats and intercept hostile drones either by signal jamming or physical impact.
Eirshield is automated and uses artificial intelligence to select a response, such as deploying another drone to disable the target. The system can deal with drones travelling at over 200 kilometres per hour and is designed for both fixed and portable deployment.
In Ukraine, the system is equipped with a third-party gun to shoot down Shahed-type drones.
Funding remains uncertain. In August, the European Commission
Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
