What, according to the Minister of Defense, is the solution for drones that penetrate our country at low altitude

The Minister of Defense, Radu Miruţă, said on Sunday evening, on Digi24, regarding the Russian drones that fell in Romania, that from his point of view the solution that covers many of these holes is the ability of the Ministry of Defense to develop software for drones and end up doing co-production.

“The army has a technical ability to monitor absolutely the entire Romanian airspace from an altitude up. But, from an altitude down, things are divided into scenarios and situations, namely depending on the relief situation in the area. (…) If there is relief all around, the performance of these radars is limited”, said the Minister of Defense, after the fall of Russian drones in our country, writes News.ro.
“If it flies at 50 meters, like the drone from Galati, at 45-50 meters, there must be a local radar solution, like when you give your internet hotspot from your mobile phone, you create a local network, as much as the mobile phone can transmit, to cover a camera. The Romanian Army also has solutions for such situations, but they are limited”, explained Minister Radu Miruţă, adding that they are few and direct them where it is estimated that the risk is higher, or the frequency of such incidents happening is higher.
“My challenge, looking at what Romania has, looking at how these new drone attacks are evolving, referring to what I understand best, my conviction is that the solution that covers many of these holes is the ability of the Ministry of Defense to develop inside the Ministry a software for drones and the Ministry of Defense to end up doing co-production, never making the hardware piece, never making the mechanical piece, because these have to be done by private companies. But the customization of software for drones ideally and at maximum efficiency cannot be obtained or bought elsewhere”, the Minister of Defense told Digi24.
Radu Miruţă specified that the efficiency of a drone is the ability to decide when to go, where to go. “To be able to make such a decision, they must have a lot of data. There are equipment of the Romanian Army that generate this data, more performing, less performing radars, with various characteristics, fighter planes, observation points, modern tanks that also emit such information.”
“This information must be put in a common room from where such software can extract the right piece and transmit it to a drone in an autonomous way. Until we have that, we will be buyers of solutions that will partially solve”, mentioned the Minister of Defense.
Miruta also showed that the situation changes in this technology area about every two weeks in Ukraine. “On the battlefield, as far as the drone performance is concerned, it is about two weeks. After two weeks, the others discover something and gain a technical advantage”, explained Miruţă.
He mentioned that he started in the Ministry of Defense to create a team of young people who would have the courage to break the way these things were done until now. “I am absolutely convinced that in Romania, looking at the students whom I have taught at the university, looking at the companies in Romania, looking at some very well technically trained young people at the Ministry of Defense, there must be the ability to form a team. For now, 5-6 have been formed. Probably the ideal starting point would be for 20-25 young people to come and start building software with the specific capabilities of the Army Romanians”, emphasized the Minister of Defense.
Radu Miruţă also stated that there is another aspect related to acquisitions. “When this situation with drone technology appeared, not only Romania has this problem. The United States requests technical help for drones from Ukraine. The states of the Emirates request this, and I don't think they have a problem with not having a budget. Developing this technology and this new method of fighting on the front with drones, all countries want to purchase their systems. Romania has been ordering for 2 years, it has some orders that, reaching the operations of the Romanian Army, under the administration of the Romanian Army, they will cover a significant spectrum of problems that we cannot address today. They did not come”, said Miruţă.