With the racing race in fullar, the European Union is confident in the possibility of guaranteeing its safety, even in a scenario in which the military umbrella of the United States should reduce or even disappear. This is the message launched by the European Commissioner to Defense Andrius Kubilius, at the Bourget Air Force Motor Show in France.
“Seeing all the developments of industry and new technologies, it is very clear that in Europe we can be proud,” said Kubilius interviewed by the FP. “This brings a certain form of optimism that we can strengthen our defense skills, even spaces. There are not only well-known large companies, but many new start-ups and small businesses with very innovative ideas and great ambitions”.
Towards strategic autonomy
When asked if Europe would be able to defend themselves tomorrow in the event of an attack without the support of the United States, Kubilius has responded with realism but also determination: “Our defense skills have always been developed taking into account the American presence on the European continent. But when we talk about the long-term future, we must absolutely consider the fact that the Americans will devote more and more attention to the Indus-Pacific, due to the increase in Chinese military power”.
This means, according to the Latvian commissioner, “who will begin to reduce their presence in Europe. It will not happen tomorrow, but we must start planning how to build, in particular, those strategic skills for which today we depend on American services, such as combat planes F-35 or F-16. On this we can agree with our American partners: we must have a long-term plan”. According to Kubilius, however “to discourage the possibility of aggressions, we must change our way of thinking and developing our defense skills faster than we have done in peacetime”.
Drones
The commissioner also expressed perplexity on the race for the massive production of military drones, one of the central themes of the Bourget Motor Show. “I’m not sure that a massive production of drones in advance is the best way to prepare. Producing a drone is not a problem, the question is like learning to use them,” he said.
“We can learn a lot from the Ukrainians, who reach 80% of the objectives with the drones. Near the front line, the drones control – on both sides – an area of 20 kilometers where nothing can move. According to Ukrainian statistics, a tank survives six minutes there”.
“This year Ukraine is ready to produce 4 million drones – and it will use them all. Which means that the Russians will also have a similar quantity. If I make a parallel with my country, Lithuania, which has 900 kilometers of sensitive border with Belarus and Russia, we would need about 3 million drones”.
Innovation
According to Kubilius, the real priority is not only to make stocks of weapons, but to invest in people and innovation: “I asked Ukrainians: we must start producing up to 3 million drones per year, or should we buy them in advance and put them in stock? But the drone you have today may no longer be usable in a few months, because the Russians learn to neutralize them. What is needed is to build teams capable of developing systems It is necessary, using drones, modernizing, innovating.
