Ground-based drone vehicles at the Milrem Robotics’ facility in Tallinn on March 3.
Photographer: Peter Kollanyi/BloombergEstonia’s Startups See Opportunity in Europe’s Rush to Rearm
The Baltic country hopes to turn its thriving tech sector into a military-industrial complex, and tap into rising European defense spending.
In his eighth-floor office in Tallinn, Kusti Salm points to a map of power plants, airports and railroads across Finland, the Baltics and Poland. All of these would be “day one” targets for a barrage of missiles and drones if Russia invaded, he said. “Not a single country other than Ukraine could withstand this shower of air assaults. Not even for one day.”
Until last summer, Salm was the top-ranked civil servant in Estonia’s Ministry of Defense. A hawkish supporter of military aid to Ukraine, he was adamant that his own country — and the rest of Europe — was chronically underprepared for a Russian assault. The army agreed with him, asking for €1.6 billion ($1.7 billion) for enough long-range rockets to mount a serious resistance. That was a huge figure, roughly 10% of Estonia’s annual national budget. The government wavered over whether it could find the money. In frustration, Salm very publicly quit, forcing the issue to the top of the national agenda. The government ultimately caved, but Salm was out.