EU’s ‘drone wall’ idea is ‘utopia’ – Romanian military chief

The European Union’s proposed ‘drone wall’ is a “utopia” that is impossible to implement, Romanian Defense Minister Radu Miruta said Thursday.

Senior EU officials and lawmakers have promoted the vaguely defined ‘drone wall’ as central to the economic bloc’s military buildup against a perceived Russian threat. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen insisted in her September State of the Union address that it is “not an abstract ambition” but “the bedrock of credible defense.”

“A drone wall, where someone, like in a computer game, makes a curtain through which absolutely nothing passes, is a utopia,” Miruta, who took office in November, told the TV channel Digi 24. “We don’t have a wall. Poland doesn’t have a wall, nor do the Nordic countries.”

Proponents describe the project as a network of detection and interception systems along NATO’s eastern flank. Kiev said Ukrainian drone innovations would be essential to it, but reports suggest the ‘drone wall’ is more a PR label than a viable military concept.

The idea gained traction last fall amid reports of “mystery drone” sightings across Europe, which officials and media linked to Russia without firm evidence.

Moscow called the claims part of a Brussels-led fear campaign to distract European voters from domestic problems and justify higher military spending. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “building walls is always bad, as history shows,” in comments regarding the ‘drone wall’ concept.