What the general himself Chief of the Air Staff, Francisco Bracocalled “violations of NATO sovereignty airspace” has been one of the main issues that this Wednesday focused the conversations in Brussels of the defense ministers of the countries of the Atlantic Alliance and not so much because of the seriousness of what has been seen so far in Europe as because of its “great disruptive potential,” explains a Navy source familiar with the conversations.
It is, certainly, the window through which the West could most easily and quickly look into an armed clash with Russia. Hence, in the morning, the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte tried to clarify to the media that the reinforced aerial surveillance of The Alliance on its Eastern flank will act carefully. In other words, it will not shoot down Russian planes if they enter foreign airspace unless it is necessary because it considers them a clear threat: will try before driving the intruding aircraft out of the exclusion area or, in Rutte’s words, it will be “making sure that plane is carefully guided out of our airspace.”
That kind of incidents are commonalthough of very short duration, in the crossing between northern Russia and the Kaliningrad stripas explained by numerous Spanish soldiers upon returning from missions to reinforce the Air Force in the Baltic countries. The Russian planes play the card of pretending that they have gotten lost or diverted unintentionally. It is known throughout NATO and they react accordingly, but this Wednesday It was above all about clarifying NATO’s position in the face of a new wave of intrusions or a Russian escalation in the volume and quality of the devices. that intermittently enters western skies.
It is about define a protocol, establish a prior attitude to the case. The aforementioned military source, as well as another from the Air Force, refer to how just a few days ago, at the last meeting of heads of the air forces of the Atlantic Alliance, Concern over airspace violations was highlightednot without other concern about the need for new clear rules of action in the face of this threat, as well as the adoption of additional defense measures that have not yet been studied at the political level.
Besomar interceptor drones, in a test carried out by Ukrainian forces. / M Defense Ukraine
On September 12, various direct and indirect NATO spokespersons spoke about Operation Eastern Sentinel. More than a month has passed, the means have not been finalized. And that has been one of the arguments that Spain has put on the table at the Brussels meeting. Both the president Pedro Sánchez and the Ministry of Defense made public then – in the midst of rising temperatures due to the aggression suffered in Poland – that Spain was willing to send resources. The size of the squad of Eurofighters fighters that this country would contribute to Eastern Sentinel was then communicated to NATO – without its true size being revealed – and since then the volume of the reinforcement operation has not been specified.
The main reason for the delay could be not falling into the trap of asymmetry between attack and defense: with drones Grant (children of Saheed Iranian) and Gerber of 10,000 euros, Russia has forced to mobilize anti-aircraft resources that cost millions.
Octopus drones
As has already been theorized in press articles, Admiral former head of the Fleet Juan Rodríguez Garatthe European Union has not spoken, strictly speaking, of deterrence: only of mitigate the blow that Russia could provide… by building a “drone wall.” In other words, he talks about protecting himself, but not about warning Russia that the West could respond with greater force. which is the basis of deterrence.
The most widespread opinion among the Alliance’s air force military chiefs – according to the aforementioned sources – is that NATO needs “mass” of drones to oppose. And not only as a wall, but also as a force that could be used in attack. The United Kingdom leads this position, and the key is called Octopus.
That is the name of the program that British and Ukrainian defense ministries develop mass manufacturing of drones attack and defense. In all cases these are short flight drones and FPV capability, that is, equipped with a camera to send images to your operator. Its objective is to hit the Russian lines, also in their immediate rear, and destroy the Russian Gerans and Gerberas in flight… also winning the battle by hitting cheaper.
In this key is the Ukrainian production -sometimes with popular fundraising- of drones interceptores Besomarvery light, very cheap, capable of shooting at other drones.
The British government has confirmed in a note issued yesterday that has already delivered 85,000 of these Octopus program devices to Ukraine in just six months. In her same note, the United Kingdom Secretary of Defense recalls her argument that NATO needs to undertake mass production of drones. Other allies share the idea that it is necessary to out-produce the thousands of devices that Russia removes from the production lines of its Iranian design plant in the republic of Tatarstan, where the shells of kamikaze Geran robots accumulate by the thousands, while Ukraine suffers night attacks with more than 500 simultaneous raids that saturate its air defense.
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