Lithuania creates a system to counter air threats

Lithuania is rapidly developing technology to counter the recent influx of smuggled balloons and drones from Belarus, the country's Deputy Minister of Economy Paulius Petrauskas said.

As noted, several dozen Lithuanian companies submitted proposals for innovative measures to detect, monitor, identify and neutralize airborne threats.

"In two weeks, we will select companies and ideas. Then we will take additional steps in addition to these ideas to help develop the technology," Petrauskas said in a comment to LRT RADIO.

The government official added that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is already working on technical specifications for procurement, which will allow for testing and integration into existing systems.

This can take three to six months.

Some of the submitted systems have already been tested in Ukraine for other purposes, but could also be applied in Lithuania, Petrauskas said. Others are new proposals that, taken together, could help find effective solutions.

There aren't many other threats or chaos caused by neighboring countries. So it's quite difficult to buy solutions — they have to be built from scratch.

Earlier this month, the government received 35 applications with proposals to protect Lithuanian airspace from smuggled balloons and other flying objects that recently disrupted the operation of Vilnius Airport.

It is noted that the companies behind the most promising ideas will share prizes worth 1 million euros.