India, Estonia eye pact to build, advance defence ties

< warm> capital of republic of estonia: bharat and Estonia are exploring avenues for defence cooperation, including the possibility of co-development and co-production of weapons and systems, with both countries working on their first-ever agreement to build and advance ties through technology partnerships, industrial collaboration and joint research and development, people aware of the matter said.

The tiny north European Baltic country, which shares its eastern border with Russia, has also identified India as one of its potential suppliers of military equipment including air defence systems, artillery and ammunition, although developing its local industry to meet military needs is a top priority, the people said.

Estonia, like other European Union member states, is steadily increasing its defence spending in response to the Russian threat—up from 2% of its gross domestic product before the Russia-Ukraine war began in 2022 to more than 5% next year onwards.

“We must have cost-effective solutions for military capabilities because we are unable to cope with Russia’s approach to mass warfare, especially drone fighting. We need to be smart in our solutions because you don’t want to chase a cheap drone with a very expensive missile. Estonia is looking at all the solutions from sensible countries, and India absolutely is among them as we share the same values,” said Kaimo Kuusk, permanent secretary of the Estonian defence ministry.

In a paper published last week, the European Council on Foreign Relations put the spotlight on the Russian threat to the Baltics. The think tank claimed that if Russia were to test the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Estonia -- small and symbolically potent as a key frontline state and former Soviet republic -- is widely touted as a likely target.

The Russian border town of Ivangorod, across the Narva River, is barely 210 km east of Tallinn. To be sure, Estonia’s fellow Baltic countries Latvia and Lithuania also face the threat of Russian aggression.

Estonia and India have learnt similar lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war --- the impact of drones and electronic warfare on battlefield dynamics, the significance of layered air defence, precision targeting at long ranges, and building indigenous military capabilities to stay combat ready.

“If India is offering us something that we are interested in at an affordable price, we can look at it. But our goal is localisation of weapon production to meet needs quickly. It is not feasible to send the equipment back to India for maintenance or repairs. It doesn’t work that way…weapon production needs to be localised in the long run,” Kuusk said.

India and Estonia are discussing a draft memorandum of understanding on promoting defence cooperation, a sector that holds promise, said Indian ambassador to Estonia Ashish Sinha.

“We have seen some very interesting defence technology start-ups here and have been able to convey that to Delhi…A draft MoU is being discussed and what we finally agree on will in all likelihood encompass all areas of defence cooperation,” he added, adding that an agreement on agricultural cooperation is also in the works.

Both sides have agreements in place for cooperation in cyber security, e-governance and emerging digital technologies, trade and economic cooperation, economic and technical cooperation, science and technology, and biotechnology and higher education.

(The writer was in Tallinn on the invitation of the Estonian ministry of foreign affairs.)

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