Anti-Drone bunkers and nets for protecting electric networks from four countries on NATO's eastern flank. Call to the EU for funding

Four countries in the EU and NATO who have a border with Russia intend to build concrete bunkers and anti-drone nets in the area of ​​vital energy installations, as part of a plan to protect electrical networks following drone raids, Reuters reports.

Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia treat the plan as an urgent matter.

In the interviews given Reuters, the network operators in Poland and Lithuania have provided undesirable details so far about the plan, which involves the construction of bunkers to host key substances, the use of anti-drone nets to cover the critical infrastructure and the storage of difficult to replace components.

“After the incidents in Copenhagen and other places, there is an increasing awareness that the energy infrastructure is particularly exposed,” Grzegorz Onichimowski, CEO of the Polish network operator, told Reuters.

The violations of the air space by Russian drones “are not something that could happen, but something that is already happening,” added Onichimowski.

Poland and Baltic States ask the EU to finance half of the plane

A few days after the penetration of Russian drones into the Polish airspace on September 9-10, Poland and the three Baltic states presented to the European Union the network security plan worth 382 million euros and asked them to finance half the amount.

The plan was working since March, but it became more urgent after the air space violations, Lithuanian and Polish officials said.

“We hope that the European Union, which has invested a lot of money, 1.2 billion euros, in preparing our networks to break connections with Russia, will now secure its own investment,” said the Lithuanian Minister of Energy, Zygimantas Vaiciunas, for Reuters.

The three Baltic states completed in February the transition from Russia's electricity to the EU system, breaking the connections from the Soviet era after the alleged sabotage that took place at several cables and underwater pipes.

Lessons from Ukraine's experience

The network security plan, on which the network operators in Estonia and Latvia refused to comment, draws their lessons from the experience of Ukraine, whose electricity network has been constantly bombed in the context of the Russian invasion.

Much of the attention is paid to the so-called Swalki corridor, an area with a low population on the Polish territory, between Belarus and Russian Exclava Kaliningrad. A possible takeover of the corridor by Russia would isolate the Baltic states from the rest NATO.

On Monday, Lithuania has installed anti-Drones protection of concrete at the Neris substance, which provides electricity to the capital Vilnius and is 20 km from the border with Belarus. The concrete blocks will be tested with explosives in a specific military polygon.

Also this year, Lithuania intends to start the production and assembly of bunkers to cover important parts of many of its substances, such as transformers and control cameras, which would be difficult to replace.

“We intend to install them in most of our substances … All Lithuania feels proximity (Russia and Belarus),” said Rokas Masiulis, CEO of the Lithuanian network operator. “There is also cyber, electronic and other types,” he said.

Protection for essential parts of the electrical network

The plan is designed to protect vital parts of the electrical network, rather than the entire network, because equipping all substances with anti-drone systems would be very expensive.

Lithuania wants to supply with important components of the network, whose production or acquisition could take months, said the Minister of Energy, Vaiciunas.

The CEO Litgrid said that the operator of the Ukraine electrical grid advises Lithuania on the use of concrete blocks and anti-drone nets, as well as other ways to secure infrastructure.

Lithuania intends to spend a total of 150 million euros for network security, almost double compared to the amount provided in the EU, said a Litgrid spokesman.

“We believe that our projects will be copied in other countries, we will be able to show others what can be done,” Massiulis said.

Meanwhile, PSE in Poland wants its own armed security and helicopter unit to help protect the connection with Lithuania through the Suwalki corridor, company officials said.