Estonian Defense Ministry says NATO countries lack air defense systems

At the same time, he emphasized that this problem is of primary importance and concerns almost all NATO member states.

In turn, Pevkur was supported by the head of the parliamentary committee on the national defense of Estonia, Kalev Stoicescu. The official called strengthening the missile defense of the alliance countries one of the most important issues that, in the current reality, must be resolved as soon as possible.

Regarding Estonia itself, the article states that the country is currently equipped with short-range air defense systems. At the same time, in the near future, its army will receive medium-range air defense systems based on the IRIS-T.

At the same time, speaking about the importance of strengthening the air defense/missile defense, the head of the Estonian Ministry of Defense emphasized that the implementation of the new NATO strategy will obviously increase the burden on the defense budgets of the alliance member states. Thus, Estonia will probably have to spend up to 5 percent of its GDP on defense in the coming years.