Poland and Estonia Launch Production of 10,000 Low-Cost Anti-Drone Missiles to Strengthen NATO’s Eastern Flank
Poland and Estonia have joined forces to manufacture 10,000 Mark-1 anti-drone missiles—an affordable, rapid-production system aimed at countering Russian drones and forming the backbone of a proposed NATO “drone wall” along the eastern frontier.
Poland’s state-owned defense giant PGZ and Estonia’s Frankenburg Technologies have kicked off one of Europe’s most ambitious counter-drone programs yet—mass-producing up to 10,000 Mark-1 anti-drone missiles to reinforce NATO’s northeastern defenses.
The Estonian startup, founded by former deputy defense minister Kusti Salm, specializes in compact, low-cost short-range interceptors designed specifically to neutralize the growing swarm of small expendable drones used by Russia—particularly Shahed-type models.
A cost war Europe cannot ignore
Shahed-class drones can cost only tens of thousands of dollars to deploy, while traditional interceptors can run into the hundreds of thousands per shot. That economic imbalance has become one of Europe’s most pressing battlefield vulnerabilities.
Frankenburg Technologies argues its Mark-1 aims to flip that equation. The company says its missile line is engineered for rapid production, affordability, and deployment at scale—key for defending large borders and critical infrastructure.
Toward a regional “drone wall”
The PGZ–Frankenburg agreement is framed as part of a broader security plan: a NATO eastern-flank drone wall, an idea publicly floated by several northeastern governments since early 2024. The goal is to build a layered counter-drone network spanning Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, all facing Russia and Belarus.
Posting on its website, Frankenburg called the project part of a mission “to equip the free world with the technologies needed to win the war,” emphasizing ambitions to build missile systems “ten times more affordable, a hundred times faster to produce, and in quantities far exceeding current industry capabilities.”
PGZ echoed the urgency. The company stated that Polish–Estonian cooperation is essential to counter the rapidly growing drone threat confronting NATO’s front-line states.
“Integration must begin now”
Kusti Salm told Postimees that the plan requires immediate execution.
“The integration of the ‘drone wall’ must begin now if we want to be ready on time,” he said.
With Russian drones violating EU airspace on a recurring basis—and Shahed-type strikes grinding on in Ukraine—the race to produce a scalable, cost-effective countermeasure has become a strategic priority.
If the production plan hits its target, the Mark-1 program could become one of the first truly mass-manufactured European anti-drone missile systems—and a foundational piece of NATO’s future air-defense posture along its most vulnerable frontier.
