Press conference summary:
Today, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and SACEUR Alexus Grynkewich addressed the Russian drone incursions into Polish airspace. The Alliance announced the launch of “Eastern Sentry.”
More fighter jets for air policing.
Additional ground-based air defense systems.
A Danish frigate for the Baltic Sea.
Focus: faster deployment, greater flexibility.
What has changed:
NATO shows political unity: “every inch will be defended.”
Operationally, the eastern flank is visibly reinforced – Poland, Lithuania, and Romania can count on more NATO presence in the short term.
What hasn’t changed – and why that matters:
The cost asymmetry remains: we keep firing million-euro missiles at drones worth only tens of thousands.
No mention of a low-cost counter-drone belt (jammers, interceptor drones, Skynex, mobile teams).
Ukrainian lessons on effective, affordable drone defense have still not been integrated into NATO doctrine.
Why this is dangerous:
Putin deliberately probes red lines with drones – cheap, low-risk, politically effective. Every unanswered violation strengthens his calculus. As long as NATO responds only with high-end assets, Europe’s skies remain vulnerable.
In my latest blog I outlined how a drone defense belt along NATO’s eastern flank could be built cost-effectively and immediately – as a second layer alongside existing high-tech systems.
This press conference shows: NATO is moving, but not yet where the real gap lies.
Read here: “A Drone Defense Belt for Europe’s Eastern Flank”